A Marvel Transformation
by RexBlazer1
Summary: Though the war spread to other planets, the Autobots never could have imagined meeting such incredible beings. Beings of marvelous power. With their help, the course of the war could change forever.
1. Darkness Rising Part 1

**AN: I know that there are those of you who probably want to see me update my ATLA story, but this idea has been buzzing around in my head for about two weeks, and I feel as though I need to get it out of my system since I can't rely on challenges being picked up by anyone. And I realize that, like Afalstein said, "If I tried to write down every story idea I had, I'd never get anything done."**

**That being said, the idea here is based on Marvel's past history. They used to own Transformers, and they almost owned DC comics. So it's basically an idea where Transformers: Prime is written in a way where the question of "What if Marvel still had Transformers and owned the DC characters?" is answered. Don't worry, I won't overload this with a bunch of characters from any of those three, just a few select ones. I know which ones they are, but I'll reveal it as I go.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Transformers, Marvel or DC comics, as they all belong to their respective owners. And I make absolutely no profit on this, and I honestly don't see how I could, which makes disclaimers in general seem stupid.**

Jasper, Nevada

4:47 PM

In a small town surrounded by seemingly endless desert and rocks, a sixteen-year-old teen worked a job at the local fast food joint, K.O. Burger. His name was Jack Darby. He was a fairly tall kid for his age, and he had jet-black hair, blue teal eyes, and his attire consisted of wearing a dark gray short-sleeved shirt over a light-gray long-sleeve shirt along with blue jeans and black shoes. Currently, he wasn't very pleased with his life, and that's due to the fact that the customers in the drive-thru would often give him very little appreciation. Like right at that moment:

"Welcome to K.O. Drive-in, where every patty is a knockout," said Jack in a bored tone, "May I take your order?"

The customer on the other side of the microphone said, _"Uh, two super combos with extra fries."_

Getting the order ready, Jack replied, "Okay, dos numero tus. Anything else?"

"_Yeah, some advice; how do I get an awesome job like yours?"_ joked the customer, laughing with his friends on the other end.

Jack rolled his eyes and put the bags with their orders on the window before saying sarcastically, "So that's two 'we're not as funny as we think we are' combos with a side of 'bite me'!"

The customers stopped laughing as the lead one asked, _"What'd you say?!"_

"Five fifty nine, _Sir_, at the window."

The Customers' car rolled up to the window where they grabbed their meal and drove off without paying.

Jack, upset but not surprised by this turn of events, quietly said, "You have to pay for that!"

Sighing, the sixteen-year-old boy called it a day and put his job hat away. Then he walked out the door to the parking lot, and as he did, his phone began to ring. Pulling it out of his pocket, Jack flipped it open to see who it was before putting it up to his ear and answered, "Hey Mom."

"_Hey Honey. You okay?"_ asked Jack's thirty-nine-year-old mother, June Darby, on the other end.

"Yeah, I just got off."

"_Are you heading to the dance?"_

"No, I'm not going to the dance. Experience suggests that I should _never_ cut a rug. Unless I'm installing carpet, of course."

"_Well just be careful is all I'm asking."_

"'Be careful?' Seriously? This is Jasper."

"_That may be, but just in case, please? For me?"_ asked June in a semi-pleading voice.

"Fine," said Jack rolling his eyes.

"_Oh, and before I forget, Steve's coming over for dinner."_

"Oh, yeah…Steve. That's great…" says Jack, trying and failing to sound enthusiastic about the idea of having dinner with his Mom's boyfriend, Steve Rogers.

"_Look, Jack, he's not trying to replace your father. No one is."_ June hadn't dated since her husband died when Jack was seven. But since nearly five months ago, she'd been dating a tall, handsome, and well-rounded man by the name of Steve Rogers, who had moved there not long before the two met. When they began dating, June found herself in a great relationship with an all-around great guy.

Jack, on the other hand, didn't know what to think because, while he was glad that his mother was happy, he didn't want anyone to replace his father. "I know, but-"

"_No buts. The three of us are having dinner together, and we will _all_ enjoy ourselves. Got it?"_

Jack sighed in defeat before saying, "Yes, Ma'am."

"_Good!"_ said June triumphantly.

Suddenly, Jack noticed a blue motorcycle sitting in the parking space in front him. He took a good look at it before saying, "I love you!" Realizing that his mother might've heard him, he quickly said, "Yeah, I love you too, Mom. I gotta run." Then he hung up on her before going to inspect the blue bike.

"Hello Beautiful…" said Jack, not realizing that the side mirror on the bike turned to face him. "Where have you been all my life?" Putting his hands on the seat, the sixteen-year-old said appreciatively, "Nice!"

Getting his hands on the wheel, Jack sat himself down on the seat before saying, "It may take a few K.O. paychecks, but I am gonna own a ride like you someday."

Jack was interrupted from his fantasy by the voice of a teenaged girl, who said, "Are you talking to your motorcycle?"

Looking away from the bike, Jack saw it was two popular girls from his own school, specifically Sierra Bishop and her friend Liz Hardy, who stood there laughing at what he did.

"Eh-m-my motorcycle?" said Jack, looking for words to say, "Uh, no! I-I mean y-yes-yes! It's mine, but I'm not talking to-well to you, I am." Face-palming himself, Jack went on to try and change the subject and asked, "So, how's things, Sierra? Take you for a spin sometime?"

Jack and the girls didn't notice the bike's side mirror move to see two dark-purple muscle cars rolling up close to them. The bike thought to itself in a feminine voice, _'Come on Smooth Operator! Wrap it up!'_

Sierra looked at Jack quizzically and asked, "You…know my name?"

"Yeah, we're in home room together. I'm Jack. Jack Darby?"

Before any of the teens could continue, however, the two muscle cars revved their motors and shined their lights at them.

The blue bike moved her mirror and mentally cursed, _'Scrap!'_ before driving off with Jack as the muscle cars chased after them.

Jack screamed "Whoa!" multiple times as the bike he was holding onto for dear life sped down the road, trying to lose the cars behind them.

The blue bike finally spoke out loud before saying, "Don't let go!"

A surprised Jack screamed, "WHO SAID THAT?!"

The two cars finally caught up to them and were about to crush them when the blue bike pulled Jack and herself back. The two cars bounced off each other, making an opening that the she was very quick to use. The bike drove herself around the corner and into an alley before doing a screeching spin stop.

Jack got off the bike almost immediately before backing away in a frightened manner saying, "What are you?!"

The bike turned to Jack before threatening, "I don't exist. Tell anyone about me, and I will hunt you down!"

Jack nodded before running off into another alleyway. Noticing that the cars from before were driving behind it, the bike began to drive towards the end of the alley before her mirror saw one of them go in Jack's direction. 'Scrap!' she thought as she turned around and drove its way into a jump over the car chasing her. Then she went down the other alleyway to chase the other car, who was after a running Jack Darby.

Jack panted as he shouted, "I DON'T EVEN KNOW HER!" which did not deter the purple car from rushing towards him.

The bike managed to drive over the car driving towards Jack and got right beside him before shouting, "HOP ON!" which the sixteen-year-old did without hesitation.

As they drove out of the alleyway, they made a sharp turn onto the main road with Jack giving another "WHOA!" As Jack and the bike turned onto the highway, the purple cars behind them began to shoot energy-like bullets at them.

Once they were on the main freeway, Jack asked his transport, "Why are those guys shooting at us?!"

Snaking her way between the traffic, the bike replied, "There's no 'us' kid, and they're no guys!"

Looking back, Jack saw the two cars still close behind them. Then, he noticed a yellow Urbana 500 with black racing stripes come onto the highway from the entrance ramp and slam into the twin cars before driving up to where Jack and the bike were.

"Friend of yours?" asked Jack.

The bike's response was, "Family."

As Jack continued to ride the bike onward, the yellow Urbana got into a slam fest with the two purple cars, trying to avoid hitting any other vehicle.

After another minute or so, Jack finally faced forward and saw that the road ahead involved a bridge still under construction, which meant that there was a big, blocked, gap straight ahead.

Fortunately, the bike drove up to the side and jumped off the freeway and did a few more hurdles until they reached the drainage canal right below the bridge. Once they stopped though, they found themselves face-to-face with the twelve-year-old Rafael Jorge Gonzales Esquivel, or "Raf" as everybody liked to call him, who dropped the remote control for his toy car as he looked at Jack and the bike in awe. Raf had brown hair and eyes, wore red-squared glasses as well as an orange dress shirt, blue jeans and orange sneakers.

"Whoa!" said Raf.

Jack caught his breath before responding, "Whew, you have _no_ idea."

As the teen got off the bike to greet Raf, they both heard the sounds of motors revving and looked up to see the two purple cars from earlier atop the concrete closest to the incomplete bridge.

Jack and Raf's expressions turned scared when the cars drove down the concrete towards them, and, much to the surprise of the two humans, transformed into robots, nearly twenty feet high each. The robots had silver faces of sorts with a red visor acting as the eyes. Their bodies were mostly black and purple colored with large shoulders, lean forms and their heads were hunched over. On their chests were a symbol of sorts that looked like a mouth-less face with malevolent intentions. With their black legs and three-digit hands, they robots moved towards Jack, Raf, and the Bike.

The bike, however, had a little surprise of her own and shifted her parts around to transform into a sixteen foot tall feminine robot with blue armor, black thighs, upper arms and waist, pink highlights on her blue head, and a silver chrome face. Her lips were faintly pink, and her eyes were glowing blue with anger. Once her transformation was complete, she stared down the two other robots and said, "This ends _here_, Cons!"

And the fembot charged towards the other robots while narrowly dodging their laser fire. She jumped into the air and landed her foot on one of purple "Cons" before dodging the other's fire and kicking it in the chest as well.

Both Jack and Raf stood still in awe at the scene before the younger of the two said, "W-What are they?"

"Talking cars that turn into robots," said Jack nervously unsure, "Or the other way around."

The blue fembot laid a whole series of ferocious punches and kicks at one of the Cons, and through a series of punches to the Con's face, she said, "This-is-for-Cliff!"

For a brief moment, Jack wondered, _'Who's Cliff? Must be somebody important if she's THAT upset about it.'_

Once her blows were done, the Cons proceeded to fire on her. The fembot did a number of backflips before getting shot once and found herself scraping across the concrete.

Jack and Raf exchanged worried looks, but then looked up as they heard car engine rev up above them. As they did, the yellow Urbana 500 from earlier jumped off the incomplete bridge before transforming into a robot as well. When it landed, the yellow bot nearly crushed one Con before giving the other a right cross on the jaw.

The blue fembot groaned as she got up and rubbed her head, "Ugh…"

The yellow bot stomped his foot on the face of one Con before backing away from his downed opponent. As he did, however, a loud crunching sound was heard, and he looked down to see that he had crushed a yellow toy car that belonged to Raf. The yellow Bot looked at Jack and Raf and made a series of mechanical whirs and beeps whilst looking apologetic.

Raf responded, "No problem. Really."

Suddenly, they were interrupted when the Con got back up and shot the yellow Bot, sending him flying and twirling until he landed a few feet away and face down. He was about to get up when a Con stomped his foot on the yellow bot's back. The yellow bot managed to roll over so that he could see the two Cons standing over him and pointing their guns at him, ready to fire in his face at any second.

Raf got upset by this and yelled, "Leave him alone!"

Unfortunately, this only caused the two Cons to focus their guns at him and Jack.

Raf got scared and said in a scared voice, "Please?"

Jack lowered himself to Raf's level and said, "Bad call."

The Cons exchanged a nod before the one closest to Jack and Raf began walking towards them. The two boys made a run for it with Jack yelling for Raf to keep running, "Come on, come on!" The con followed them as they entered and ran into a drainage tunnel. Once they were in, Jack shouted, "Keep moving!" as the robot reached it three-digit hand to grab them.

Then, the boys heard a loud metallic clang and turned to see that the Con was no longer at the entrance and was fighting someone. Not one of the other robots, but rather a tall man. A man wearing a blue outfit with red and white stripes along the midsection, white on the sleeves, red gauntlets and boots, and a blue cowl with white, stylized wings on the sides and a white A on his forehead. On his waist, he wore a belt with a number of big pockets, and in his right arm, he held a shield with a white star on a blue circle with ring pattern of red-white-red. This star spangled man was seemingly holding his own against the purple and black antagonist.

The two boys stood in the drainage tunnel with dumbstruck awe at the scene before them. Raf was the first to give voice and asked, "Is that-?"

"Captain America?!" finished Jack. Even from their distance, Jack got a good look at his and Raf's rescuer, and thought, _'I don't know why, but something about him seems familiar…'_

Jack would've continued pondering had the superhero in question turned to face them and yell, "Don't just stand there, _go_!" Then he proceeded to hit the oversized robot over the head with his shield, creating a loud clanging sound.

"You heard the man!" said Jack as pulled Raf along with him into a run towards the other end of the tunnel.

6:38 PM

After eventually finding their way out of drainage tunnel and making it back to their suburb, Jack and Raf agreed to keep quiet about what happened and went their separate ways for the day. Jack walked up to his house and knocked on the front door, where his mother stood in the hallway with her arms crossed and her foot tapping.

"Jackson Benjamin Darby, where _have_ you been?!" yelled June at her son.

"It's a long story," was Jack's reply.

"Try me!"

Sighing, Jack said, "Alright, but can I go get a shower first? I had go run through a sewer for about an hour and a half."

"Why were you-" before June could finish her sentence, she got a good whiff of Jack before covering her mouth and noise, and saying, "Ugh! You do need a shower, but don't think that means this conversation is over, Young Man!"

"I didn't think it was," muttered Jack as he made his way to the shower. About twenty minutes later, he got out, got dressed, and made his way to the kitchen where his mother was preparing tofu. Being a nurse, June Darby was a bit of health nut.

"Ah, tofu…" said Jack unenthusiastically, "my favorite meal."

"Better than eating that junk you hand out to people at your job," replied June without turning to face Jack.

Before Jack could respond, a knocking sound was heard at the door, to which June said, "I'll get that."

Jack listened as he helped set the table for three people, as he could already tell who it was at the door.

The door opened and the sound of June's boyfriend could be heard, "Hey June."

"Oh, hey Steve!" replied the nurse happily surprised, "Glad you could make it."

"It was no trouble, June."

As they exited the hallway, June came into view with a man with blond hair, blue eyes, six foot five inch height, and dressed in a white t-shirt, khaki colored cargo pants, and brown work shoes. His shoulders were wide, and he seemed perfectly muscular, almost as though he exercised every day. June had informed Jack that when she and Steve started dating months ago, he told her that he had served in the Army, which is why he always exercised.

The former soldier smiled at the sixteen-year-old and said, "Hi, Jack."

"Hey Steve," replied the somewhat distracted teen, who was sitting at the table.

"Something on your mind?" asked Steve as he and June got situated.

"Well-" started Jack before his mother interrupted.

"As a matter of fact, Steve," started June, looking from her boyfriend to her son, "Jack was about to explain to me why he was so late in getting home."

"This should be interesting," said the soldier, almost as though he had something on his mind as well.

"Indeed," replied June looking at her son sternly.

Clearing his throat, Jack said, "Well, the thing is…" Jack tried to think for a minute about what to say, _'What am I supposed to say? That I ran into a transforming robot rumble?' _ After about half a minute, Jack finally said, "Well, after work, I saw this bike I was interested in getting once I build up enough money."

"Uh-uh…" said June listening.

"Then…this…" Jack drifted trying to find the right words without sounding crazy.

"Girl?" asked Steve.

"Yeah, girl, who appeared out of nowhere to…take the bike for herself. Then these two purple cars come in and the girl makes me get on the bike…which resulted in the two of us getting chased by the two cars down the highway."

"Really?" asked June in a voice of both unconvinced and curiousness.

"Yeah, and…"

"Why were they chasing you?" demanded June.

"I honestly don't know. I even tried to get off the bike and tell the guys chasing us that I didn't even know her. But, whatever their reason was, they were in hot pursuit."

"I imagine they were," said Steve taking a sip from his glass.

"After trying to get rid of the guys on the freeway, we ended up in a canal, where I finally got off the bike. The guys in the purple cars finally got out and they and the girl got into a fight."

"A fight?" said June worriedly.

"Yeah, but I didn't stick around long enough to see the outcome." Deciding not to mention Raf and risk getting the twelve-year-old in trouble, Jack continued, "So I ran inside the drainage tunnel where I ended up navigating my way through the sewer before finally getting back above ground and coming home."

June sighed a bit before saying, "Well, I'm glad to know you didn't get involved."

The sixteen-year-old sighed himself before digging into his tofu.

However, Jack found himself in an awkward position again when his mother smiled a bit before asking, "So, this girl you rode with, what was she like?"

Jack nearly choked as he was caught off by the question, and after a couple coughing fits, he managed to regain his voice and say, "Well…she was…unlike any girl I've ever met!"

Unfortunately, it didn't deter his mother, "How so?" she asked calmly.

"Um…well…she…had some…unusual features."

"Like?"

"Uh…she…was mostly dressed in blue…and she was easily the tallest…woman I've ever come across."

"How tall was she?"

Before Jack could think up an answer, Steve gave a divergent question, "Can you describe the guys she was fighting?"

Silently thanking Steve for changing the subject somewhat, Jack answered, "They were tall, but they were dressed darkly and wore some kind of masks." Technically it was true, the Con robots that he saw had no actual faces to speak of, so they could have easily been wearing masks of some sort.

Steve nodded before ending the discussion with, "Well, what's important is that you got out of there alive and in one piece."

"Yep!" agreed Jack, "So let's eat before the tofu gets cold. Shall we?"

With that, the three of them ate their meal. It lasted for about an hour before they were finished and Steve left to go home.

3:07 PM

The next day, after school was dismissed, Jack walked outside and found Raf, then walked up to him before saying, "Raf, hey…" The sixteen-year-old rubbed the back of his head before saying, "Look, let's just…keep this between us and forget anything ever happened, ok?"

The twelve-year-old knew what Jack was talking about, and was about to respond when the honking of a car got their attention. They both looked to see where the sound came from, and Raf grabbed the older teen's arm and gasped enthusiastically, "Jack!"

It was the yellow Urbana 500 from yesterday, and as it rolled up to where the two were, Jack rolled his eyes saying, "Oh, not again!"

Once it was right in front of the boys, the Urbana 500's door opened up to show an empty seat, followed by a series of mechanical whirs.

Jack tried to understand and asked, "It…wants us to get in?"

"No," said Raf, "just me."

"How do you know that?"

The twelve-year-old shrugged saying, "It said so."

Looking even more confused, Jack responded, "What?"

Grabbing the older teen's arm and pointing to the parking lot, Raf said, "Yours is over there."

Jack was surprised to see that the transforming blue, motorbike from yesterday was there, but he still wasn't on board with going, so he said, "But I really don't think-"

Except the younger boy wasn't listening, and instead got in the yellow car asking it, "How's it going?" before the door closed.

"Raf?" asked Jack, and as the car drove off, he yelled, "Wait! Stop!" only to be left behind in a dust cloud. The sixteen-year-old looked to the blue bike before turning away and walking on the street side away from the school. It wasn't long before he found himself in an alleyway, and not long after, the revving of a motorcycle engine. The said motorbike went past him and swerved in front of him.

"Relax," said the bike, with surprisingly still person on top of her wearing a helmet that didn't show a face, "I just want to _talk_ to you."

"Don't you mean you and your new friend?" asked Jack, referring to the person riding on the bike.

"Kid, there's a lot you don't understand," replied the bike as the person on top of her disappeared, revealing to be nothing more than a hologram.

Putting his hands up, Jack said, "N-No, I get-I get!" Putting his hands down, Jack began to walk away from the bike saying, "First rule of Robot Fight Club is 'you don't talk about Robot Fight Club.' What you need to understand is that I don't want a bunch of crazy, talking vehicles-" right behind him, the bike transformed into her robot move, "-following me around, trying to get me killed!"

"Look," said the fembot as Jack turned to face her, "Jack, is it? Your personal safety is exactly _why_ Optimus Prime has requested your presence."

Jack backed away a little as her face got closer to his, "Uh-Optimus Who?"

"You may be in danger because you are one of the _few_, one of the _only_, who have ever seen us."

"Dude, what're you waiting for?!" came a girl's voice, and both Jack and the fembot looked to see the fourteen-year-old transfer student, Miko Nakadai, poking her head around the corner and listening in on their conversation, "Go with!" she chirped.

The fembot cursed saying, "Scrap!"

3:32 PM

On the desert road, Jack found himself with riding on the fembot in her bike form, with Miko sitting right behind him, and the yellow car right in front of him with Raf in it. Both vehicles had dust trails after them.

"WOO-HOOO!" yelled Miko, enjoying the thrills of riding on the bike.

"And _why_ exactly are we taking her?" Jack asked the bike.

"Rules!" was her only answer.

As they drove further, they soon found themselves off the road and driving into a mountain up ahead, which scared the sixteen-year-old, "Hey, what-WHOOOAAA!"

Thankfully, the mountain made an opening for them, revealing a lit tunnel inside. Once the kids and vehicles were in, the doors closed up, and they traveled down the tunnel into what appeared to be a large command center with the mountain acting as the walls and ceiling.

Miko expressed her awe at the place by saying, "Whoa…"

At what appeared to be a large computer terminal, there was a large robot with an orange and white color scheme and had what appeared to be parts of an ambulance covering him. Another large robot came into view, one who appeared to be very round, and had a green and black color scheme, four-digit hands, and large chin of sorts.

At the sight of them, Jack and Miko said, "Whoa…" while Raf said, "Cool!"

The two teens got off the bike while Raf got out of the yellow car, and the aforementioned vehicles transformed into their robot forms as soon as they became short on passengers.

The white and orange robot walked up to them and expressed his curiosity, "I thought there were two?"

"Haven't you heard?" said the fembot sarcastically, "Humans multiply." Then she walked off to the wall where she leaned back and crossed her arms.

The twelve-year-old extended his hand to robots and simply introduced himself, "I'm Raf."

The fourteen-year-old transfer student walked up to the green robot with excitement and said, "I'm Miko. Who're you?"

The green robot replied in an uncertain voice at her, "Bulkhead."

Miko gasped and proceeded to shoot her mouth at him, "Are you a car? I bet you're a truck-A MONSTER TRUCK! Do you like Heavy Metal? How much do you weigh? Ever use a wrecking ball for a punching bag?" Bulkhead only stood silent, unsure of which question to answer, or what her questions were about.

Raf gave his voice as well, "So, if you guys are robots, who made you?"

The white and orange robot scoffed at the question and responded, "Puh-lease!"

The kids heard loud footsteps and turned around to see a large blue and red robot walk up to them. Looking down at the three, the robot explained informally with a bass voice, "We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron, also known as Autobots."

Jack stepped up to the large Autobot and asked, "Why are you here?"

Again, informally, the Autobot said, "To protect your planet from the Decepticons."

"The jokers who tried to bump us off last night," added the fembot so that the kids would understand.

Looking from the fembot to the red and blue Autobot, Jack asked, "Okay, why are they here?"

The large Bot kneeled down and looked at them saying, "A fair question Jack. In part, they are here because our planet is uninhabitable, ravaged by centuries of civil war."

"W-Why were you fighting a war?" asked Raf.

"Foremost, over our world's supply of energon; the fuel and lifeblood of all Autobots and Decepticons alike. The combat was fierce, and endured for centuries. In the beginning, I fought alongside one whom I considered a brother, but in war, ideals can be corrupted, and it was thus, that Megatron lost his way."

Miko sighed in an uninterested way and asked, "Is there going to be a quiz?"

Raf and Jack gave a glare for being rude, before turning back to the red and blue Autobot. Jack then asked, "So, what does Megatron, or any of this, have to do with us?"

"Megatron has not been seen nor heard from in some time," answered the Autobot, "but if his return is imminent, as I fear, it could be catastrophic." Getting back up, the red and blue Autobot continued, "And since you now know of our existence, I fear that as of last night, the Decepticons now know of yours."

"Got it, we spot any strange vehicles, call 911," answered Jack, eager to leave, "Can we go now?"

Miko looked at him a like he said something crazy and asked, "Are you insane?! I am living a dream her in Botswana, and I will not allow _you_ or anyone else to shatter it!"

Jack rolled his eyes at her before the red and blue Autobot got their attention, "It is best that you three remain under our watch. At least until we can determine our enemy's intentions."

"Which is why you're being brought in on this," said a different, yet familiar voice. The three kids turned toward the voice to see that it belonged to none other than Jack and Raf's human rescuer from the previous night, Captain America. He stood on top of one of the platforms and looked down on everybody as the three adolescents stared in awe. Walking over the ladder and climbing down, the star spangled superhero made his way towards the two teens and twelve-year-old before saying, "I bet this must all seem surreal to you. Meeting a guy like me and interacting with giant robots?"

"To say the least!" exasperated Jack.

Before the Captain could continue, Miko butted in and asked, "What does surreal mean?"

Jack and Raf sighed as they face palmed themselves. Before they could answer, the Captain did it for them, "I means that this is all weird for you."

"Oh, is there going to be a quiz on that too?"

"Miko-!" started Jack.

"Why're you here?" asked Raf.

The Star Spangled hero's reply was simple, "To answer your question, I'm here because our government assigned me to help the Autobots in their war with the Decepticons."

The red and blue Autobot added to that, "And it was against my wishes to not involve humans."

The Captain looked at him and said, "With all due respect, Optimus, humans became involved the moment you and the Cons came to our world."

Jack, Miko and Raf figured that maybe that the red and blue Autobot was Optimus Prime, but they weren't sure until Cap called him out by name. However, nobody could say a word about anything as the Autobot leader and the American Superhero exchanged glares. One could easily tell that this was a sore point between them, though how long it had been that way was anybody's guess.

The tension was cut thankfully when Jack asked Cap, "Pardon me, Captain, but do I know you from somewhere? I feel as though we've met before yesterday."

"You met Captain America yesterday?" asked an oblivious Miko.

Before the sixteen-year-old could get frustrated even further with the Japanese exchange student, Raf cut in and answered, "Jack and I both did, Miko. He helped save us from one of the Decepticons that those two fought," he said pointing towards the yellow robot and the blue fembot.

"Oh!" said a surprised Miko.

Before she could say another thing, Jack got back on topic and asked Cap, "Anyway, have we met before yesterday or not?"

"To be honest Jack, I'd be lying if I said we didn't."

"What do you-?"

Jack didn't finish as he stood there in surprise as the American superhero took off his cowl to reveal is face in full. Who he turned out to be was someone Jack would never have guessed it was.

"Steve?!"

Indeed it was him; Steve Rogers, the man that his mother had been dating for the last five months was actually the All-American Hero, Captain America. Needless to say, Jack was stunned by this revelation.

Raf brought the sixteen-year-old out of his stupor by asking, "You know him?"

Bringing himself back to reality, Jack looked at the twelve-year-old and gestured to Cap/Steve saying, "Y-Yeah, my mom's been dating him for the past five months."

"Whoa!" interjected Miko, "your mom's boyfriend is Captain America?!"

Jack looked at her with his mouth agape and said, "Were you just listening? Yes!"

"Jack," said Cap, getting their attention, "I know this must come as a shock to you, but listen and I'll explain."

"I'm listening," replied the sixteen-year-old.

"First, let's all get situated," and the American superhero led them to one of the upper platforms where there was a set of chairs. Once they all sat down, Cap proceeded to tell them his story. Starting with how he was originally part of a super soldier program back in the 1940s. That fact alone shocked Jack the most, as he initially thought that maybe Steve was a successor to the Captain America from WWII, rather than the same person.

Cap then told them that most of his missions back then centered on stopping a German super-soldier called the Red Skull, who was in charge of a group called HYDRA. After which, he said that the Skull somehow disappeared. He also stated that the reason Cap was still alive and looked as young as he did was due to being frozen in the artic for nearly seventy years.

After he was unfrozen by the government organization known as S.H.I.E.L.D., he was immediately put to use by the association and did some work on covert and public missions for them. When he was done, the kids had mixed reactions. Miko was enthusiastically excited about the situation they were in, Raf looked at Cap with childish awe, but Jack sat still and silent.

"A lot to take in, isn't it Jack?" asked Cap.

"Honestly, I'm still trying to take in the fact that my mom's been dating a guy who's at least twice her age."

Miko quirked an eyebrow at him and said, "Dude, you're in a secret military base with a living legend of a superhero and five transforming robots from another planet, and _that's_ the part you're having trouble with?"

"Point taken," _'for once she says something smart,'_ thought Jack, who then looked at Cap and asked, "So, you mind introducing us?" he asked inclining his head towards the Autobots, "I mean, we got a couple of their names. He's Optimus Prime and he's Bulkhead," said Jack, pointing towards the two Autobots respectively, who nodded in confirmation. "But we didn't get their names," he gestured back and forth between the white and orange Autobot, the yellow one, and the blue fembot.

"Well," said Cap as he got up from his seat and walked to the edge of the platform. He motioned towards the white and orange Bot and said, "This would be Ratchet, the Autobots' chief medical officer. And that," he pointed to the yellow Bot, "would be Bumblebee, the team's scout. And she's-" he would've introduced the fembot had she not decided to do it for him.

"The name's Arcee!" she answered coldly, "That's all you need to know." And she walked off to another part of the compound.

"What's with her?" asked Jack with a little concern in his voice.

Cap looked at him solemnly and answered, "Her partner, Cliffjumper, was recently killed in action."

"Oh…" said Jack in understanding, "How did he-?"

Before anyone could continue any conversation, a signal suddenly flashed on the big computer's screen, getting everyone's attention.

Ratchet walked up to it to see what was going on, and once he did, his optics widened in shock and disbelief, "Impossible!"

"What is it Ratchet?" asked Optimus as he and the others gathered around the CMO.

"Something must be malfunctioning, because according to this, Cliffjumper's signal is now online!"

**AN: And that's all for now folks. Hope you like the set up I've got so far. And I realize that in the open AN that there would both Marvel AND DC characters in this, and I intend to keep that promise, but the DC characters will come in later chapters.**

**Speak your thoughts in the Reviews, and PM me with any questions or suggestions you might have, as I'm more than happy to hear them. Plus, review like crazy, as that motivates me to keep going.**


	2. Darkness Rising Part 2

6:57 PM

The Autobots stood in astonishment upon hearing what Ratchet said.

"How is that possible?" asked Optimus.

"Yeah," said Jack, looking towards Cap, "Didn't you just say he was killed in action?"

"It isn't," said an irritated Ratchet to Optimus, "Another bug!" he gestured towards the computer, "The system's chocked full of them!"

Arcee looked at Optimus with more than a hint of pleading in her voice, "If there's any chance that Cliff's alive?"

"Ratchet," said Optimus, "prepare Sick Bay. We may need it."

However, before anyone could go anywhere, an alert blared and made itself known. Ratchet went to the computer to check.

"What's that?" asked Jack.

"It's the proximity sensor, Jack," said Cap, "It means someone's up top, and I've got a pretty good feeling who."

After Ratchet clicked a few buttons, the screen showed a helicopter on the roof with a black-haired, African-American man in his early forties, and a little overweight, dressed in a suit getting out of it.

"It's Agent Fowler," said Ratchet.

Jack looked at Cap before, "But I thought that you were the only one the government sent to help them?"

"I help them in the field, Jack, but Fowler is S.H.I.E.L.D.'s designated liaison to the Autobots, assigned to help ensure that they stay under the radar."

"And he tends to only visit when there are issues," added Optimus.

All eyes were on the elevator as it came down to level with the platform. The doors opened to reveal Agent Fowler, who did not look at all pleased as he walked out onto the stand, "Seven wrecks, thirty-four fender-benders, a three hour traffic jam, and a _particular note_, numerous reports, of a speeding motorcycle of unknown make, and black and yellow Urbana 500!"

Arcee and Bumblebee exchanged glances at that.

Agent Fowler looked over at Cap before saluting him, and then his eyebrows furrowed when he saw Jack, Raf and Miko. Looking back to Optimus, he yelled, "Now we can add contact with _civilians_ to that list! Anything you care to get off your tin chest, _Prime_!"

Looking down at the man, Optimus answered formally, "We have the situation under control, Agent Fowler."

Not buying it, Fowler responded, "They're back, aren't they!"

"If you are revering to the Decepticons, I have doubts that they ever left. You're planet is much too valuable."

"Then it's time to wake up the rest of S.H.I.E.L.D. and the Pentagon."

"Captain America differs with me on this subject, but hear me, Agent Fowler; we are your best, possibly your _only_ defense against the Decepticon threat."

Fowler's response showed that he still wasn't convinced, "Says you."

"Hey Fleshy!" called out Bulkhead to Fowler, "Did _anyone_ get splattered on that freeway?" Pulling a robotic arm out of the laboratory equipment, Bulkhead continued, "Team Prime knows _when_ to use force," then he squeezed it beyond repair, "And how _much_ to use."

Once he was done, Ratchet ran up to Bulkhead and angrily yelled, "Bulkhead I _needed_ that!"

Yelling to both Bots, Optimus said, "Enough!" Looking back at Agent Fowler, Optimus continued, "Military involvement will only result in catastrophe. Perhaps _you_ can condone widespread human casualties, Agent Fowler. I, however, cannot."

"Can we discuss this after a while?!" yelled a frustrated Arcee, "Because right now, one of our own is _out there_, and may need our help!"

Nodding, Optimus looked to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Agent and stated, "Will continue this at later time Agent Fowler." Turning to Ratchet, Optimus ordered, "Activate the ground bridge."

The CMO nodded before pulling a lever, after which a swirling vortex of glowing green energy appeared at the entrance to what was an unfinished tunnel.

"Hey!" called Miko, getting everyone's attention, "What can we do?"

"You three can come with me!" replied Fowler, "You're all going into S.H.I.E.L.D. custody, for your own protection."

Before he could make way towards the kids, Cap stepped in front of them and said, "That won't be necessary, Agent Fowler."

"Yeah!" chimed in Bulkhead, "We're protecting them!"

"The kids need government protection, and that's something that S.H.I.E.L.D. can give them," the agent countered.

"Agent Fowler," said Optimus, "your government does not know the Decepticons as intimately as we do, and the best protection can only come from someone who has that sort of knowledge, and S.H.I.E.L.D. does not."

Sighing, Fowler pinched his nose and said, "Fine, the kids can stay, but do us all a favor, Prime, and handle this, _under_ the radar!"

Optimus nodded and looked at the kids saying, "It is best that you remain here with Ratchet and Captain America."

"I'm coming with you!" stated Cap as he walked towards the vortex next to the Bots, "Cliffjumper's one of ours, and that means we all work to bring him back." Looking back at Jack, Cap said, "Jack, you, Miko and Raf remain here with Ratchet."

Both Miko and Ratchet whined at that, as neither was particularly fond of the idea.

"Autobots!" yelled Optimus, "Roll out!" and the four field Autobots transformed into their vehicle modes; Arcee as a blue bike, Bumblebee as a yellow Urbana 500, Bulkhead as a green truck, and Optimus as a long-nose red and blue Peterbilt truck. Cap opened Optimus' driver side door and got in, then they all proceeded to drive on through into the vortex, disappearing as they did. Once they had gone through, the swirling energies disappeared.

Fowler walked towards the elevator and said, "I better get going." As he got in it, he turned to Ratchet and said, "Make sure that Prime does things in a way _doesn't_ get much attention!" then the doors closed.

"Hey, Ratchet?" asked Jack.

"What?" asked the frustrated CMO.

"Um, what happened a minute ago with Steve and the other Bots?"

"I transported them to the designated coordinates via the ground bridge." His tone made sound like what he did was the most obvious thing in the world.

"What's a ground bridge?" asked Raf.

Sighing, Ratchet explained, "A scaled-down version of space bridge technology." Looking at the computer, he continued, "Since we currently don't possess the means or the energon required for intergalactic travel…"

Jack walked to the edge of the platform and said in an understanding tone, "You're stuck here, on Earth."

"With the likes of you, yes!" snapped the CMO, "But _I_ constructed the ground bridge to enable travel from here to anywhere on your planet."

"Whoa…" said Raf in amazement at the ground bridge, before he turned to Ratchet and asking, "Does it work for humans?"

"Naturally!" stated Ratchet in an almost proud tone.

Miko walked up to the CMO and asked, "You mean I could just…shoot on over and visit my parents in Tokyo?"

"Within moments," and then he leaned in towards the exchange student and said smiling, "In fact, allow me to send you there immediately, all three of you."

However, he backed away when Miko responded in a warning tone, "Watch it, Ratchet."

A noise from the computer got their attention as a video feed began to show. At first, the four of them only saw static, and then it cleared to show what appeared to be a large cave with large, glowing blue crystals of sorts, as well as the legs of the Autobots.

"W-What's this?" asked Jack.

"A small camera that Captain America put in his cowl so that I might see precisely what happens on missions," answered the CMO, "This way I can provide tactical feedback."

"That's cool," said Raf.

"And that means we get front row seats to _all_ the action!" said an excited Miko.

Ratchet and the kids watched as the video showed what the field team was doing. As they watched and listened, they heard Bulkhead say, "Energon mine!"

"Judging by its scale," inquired Optimus, "the Decepticons have been tunneling here for quite some time."

"And it doesn't quite look like they'll be done with it any time soon," added Cap as they made their way towards a large cavern. The camera in the cowl showed dozens of purple colored drones cutting into the large crystals and putting the pieces in either large cube containers or in crates of sorts.

Optimus got their attention and said, "Let's find Cliffjumper!" and they walked in a direction away from the Drones.

Only, they were spotted and soon came under fire. From what the camera showed, a third of the view was covered by the backside of Cap's shield and another by the extension of his arm holding a gun and firing at the drones that were either standing and shooting, or hiding and shooting.

"WHOA!" exclaimed Miko, "This is almost like a first-person shooter game, but with giant alien robots!"

"Uh, I wouldn't know, Miko," said Jack, "as I've never played those."

"Ep, Ep, Ep!" exclaimed Ratchet demanding their silence, "Less talking, more watching!"

When they looked back at the screen, they saw it jump out of the way of what appeared to be a large, black drill with purple highlights being driven by a drone. The view then showed the lit up rear of the drill getting tossed by Bulkhead's hand transformed into a wrecking ball.

"ALRIGHT! WAY TO GO BULK!" shouted the excited Miko.

Then the view shifted to show Arcee dodging shots and then performing a series of acrobatic jumps and then decapitated the heads of a couple drones.

After that, another drone was seen being crushed by Bumblebee landing on it and running, followed by Optimus turning a drill over and shooting it out of commission.

And after dodging some more fire from the enemy, Bulkhead in truck form rammed into a drone, causing into to go into the air, and then transformed into robot mode where he slammed his wrecking ball hand onto the drone and crushed it into the ground.

Miko would've probably given another display of excitement had the computer decided not to kill the video and make a number of error pop-ups.

"What happened?" asked Raf.

"The computer and all its bugs is what happened!" yelled the frustrated CMO.

The twelve-year-old proceeded to ask, "How come you guys are using human computers?"

"It certainly isn't by choice!" snapped Ratchet, "It was handed down from the previous tenants when we inherited this former missile silo." He continued in a calmer voice, "I make modifications as I see fit."

Upon seeing more error pop-ups, the CMO groaned in aggravation.

"I think I can fix that," offered Raf as he got out his lap-top and plugged it into the system of the base computer.

"_Really_?" asked Ratchet in an unconvinced tone, "You that this is _complex_ technology, don't you?" He laughed as he continued, "I mean, it isn't a child's toy."

Raf ignored him as he typed before saying, "Now try it."

Ratchet looked back at the screen to see that all the error pop-ups were replace with ones saying that things were ok. The CMO gave the twelve-year-old an impressed look before the video feed came back.

It showed Cap's arm throwing his shield into the head of a drone riding a drill before Bulkhead knocked it over with Optimus shooting the drill down. The view then turned to show more drones and large drills coming their way.

"Maximum overdrive!" shouted Optimus as he transformed into his truck form. The camera then showed Cap getting into the driver's seat of the truck as he put his hands on the wheel. Cap looked from side-to-side and then to the front as he showed the other Autobots in vehicle form as they all charged towards the drones and drill. Optimus spun as he knocked a few out of the way.

Once they finally got past the Cons, the team made their way through another tunnel as they came upon the entrance to a large chasm, where Cap got out of Optimus' cab and moved the camera around to see the drones carrying the energon pieces off in carts towards a long cylinder made of yellow-lit rings. Once under the rings, they were carried upwards in an elevator-like fashion.

The Bots transformed into their robot modes and hid behind the crates as they observed and took note of their surroundings.

Bulkhead whistled as he commented, "Quite an opera-" he didn't get to finish as they all found themselves under enemy fire again. The Bots, Cap and the Cons exchanged fire for about a minute until Arcee stopped shooting and ducked behind her crate.

"Arcee, what're you doing?" asked Cap.

"It's Cliff! I have a visual!" replied the blue fembot.

"Ok, I'll come with you!" replied the super soldier.

"And we'll cover the both of you!" added Optimus as he and the two other bots kept shooting, "GO!"

Arcee transformed into her bike form as Cap got on and the two drove into the line of fire. She led them up a ramp and narrowly avoided the shots of the Cons as she and Cap made their way into a jump. Then she transformed and grabbed onto one of the rods as well as Cap and spun to a stop. With the American superhero hanging on, Arcee performed a series of acrobatic leaps and jumps till they was on the second-highest level.

Once there, the two gasped to see the form of a severely damaged and mutilated red Bot with only his head and right arm. They also saw him leaking a strange purple substance.

From their points of view, Ratchet and the kids had mixed reactions. The CMO looked disheartened, Jack felt sympathy for the team members finding out that they were too late to save their comrade, Miko was well…Miko, and Raf just stood in frightened awe of what he witnessed.

As for Cap and Arcee, they would've stared more had it not been for the Con drones shooting at their spot. The shots made the part where the red Bot's body was begin to fall through, and the body would've fallen as well had Arcee not grabbed the arm in time with Cap standing beside her.

"Let's get you home Partner!" yelled a hopeful Arcee, who became horrified when the head of the Bot lifted to show a mutilated metal face that looked angry and glowed purple in his eyes and mouth before growling in an animalistic way at her and Cap.

"What is that?!" exclaimed Ratchet.

The four of them looked back at the screen to see that the undead Bot had yanked himself free and fell below. Arcee grunted before an evil laugh made itself known, causing them to look up and see a skinny, hunched over Con with wings of sorts holding a device in his hand.

"Starscream!" gritted Ratchet through his teeth.

"Who's he?" asked Jack.

"Megatron's second in command!" explained the angry CMO.

Jack looked at Raf and Miko saying, "That doesn't sound good."

"PRIME!" shouted the Con SIC from the screen, "I'd stick around, but, I'm squeamish." He extended his hand and dropped the device in it before transforming into a jet and flying upwards and out of sight. The device landed on some unmined crystals, making bleeping noises as it did so.

"THE JOINT'S GONNA BLOW!" yelled Bulkhead.

Cap followed Arcee down as he looked to see Optimus point towards the way they came in and shout, "AUTOBOTS! ROLL OUT!" and they transformed into their vehicular modes with Cap riding on Arcee as they all made their way back. About a quarter of the way down the tunnel, a loud boom was heard, but nobody looked back to see what it was, and they didn't have to.

Knowing that they wouldn't last much longer if they stayed, Optimus called the base and shouted, "RATCHET! BRIDGE US BACK! USE THE ARRIVAL COORDINATES NOW!" The moment he said that, the ground bridge portal appeared in front of them, and the four Autobots and superhero high-tailed it through the bright green vortex as fast as they could.

Back at the base, Ratchet and the kids looked at the lit up ground bridge as their friends made their way back in. Ratchet saw that an explosive fire was chasing them, and once Optimus and the others were out of the thing's way, he pulled the switch causing the ground bridge to close. Before any bit of the remaining fire could catch Optimus, he jumped into the air and transformed into his robot form, landing with his knee and hand on the ground. This act earned "Whoas" of awe from the three kids.

"Cutting it a bit close?"

Optimus looked at the CMO and asked, "What do you make of Captain America's findings?"

"Well," Ratchet went back to the computer and pulled up the video, rewinding it all the way to where the undead Bot was being held by Arcee, "I honestly haven't the faintest idea as to what in the name of Primus the Decepticons did to make Cliffjumper like this."

"That wasn't Cliff," voiced Arcee, standing by the other platform with her arms crossed and still in shock over what she saw, "At least, not anymore." The blue fembot started to sound as though she was on the verge of sobbing as she continued, "He was mutated…butchered! Like…something from one of those Con experiments during the war." Suddenly, she fell over before catching herself on a crate.

Bumblebee's mechanical whirring gave voice to his and everyone else's concern.

Arcee simply held her hand up to them and said, "I'm fine, just…dizzy."

With Jack, Miko and Raf, the three thought out loud at her situation.

"Robots who get dizzy?" wondered Miko.

"Robots with emotions," pondered Raf.

"Robots who can die," said Jack in realization.

Ratchet walked over to Arcee as she sat down and let the CMO scan her to see what was wrong. His scan ended when he found a smoking purple substance on her hand, making him ask out loud, "What is this…?"  
"Don't know," replied the blue fembot.

"Whatever it was," added Cap, "Cliffjumper was both covered in and leaking it."

Ratchet used a scalpel to scrape some of the substance off Arcee's hand before saying, "Go take a decontamination bath, now!"

Bumblebee helped her up as she did what the CMO ordered.

Jack checked his phone before getting the Autobot Leader's attention, "Optimus, I-I hate to bug but," showing his phone he continued, "no bars."

"A security precaution," explained Prime, "The silo walls isolate all radio waves."

Trying and failing again with his phone, Jack said, "Well, if I don't call my mom like now, I'm pretty sure the cops will be out looking for me."

Prime leaned in and asked, "Have you broken a law?"

"Uh…curfew? It's after 10 PM."

Raf added to that, "I better get home too, or I'll be grounded for a year."

Leaning back up, Optimus said, "Earth customs, I hadn't considered. But the issue of your safety remains." Turning, Prime called out saying, "Bulkhead," and the green Bot walked up to him, "accompany Miko home."

The fourteen-year-old exchange student got happily excited and said to Jack and Raf, "Awesome! My host parents will freak!"

That was, until Optimus added, "And maintain covert surveillance, in vehicle form."

"Curbside duty, got it!" said Bulkhead in understanding.

This, however, caused Miko to whine.

Optimus looked towards the yellow Bot and ordered, "Bumblebee, you'll watch over Raf." The scout and the twelve-year-old exchanged glances, both seemingly happy at the idea. Optimus turned toward the CMO and started, "Ratchet-"

"Busy!" said Ratchet simply, as he was occupied with analyzing the substance from Arcee.

However, everyone noticed Arcee stepping out of the decontamination chamber, and Prime addressed her, "Arcee." She looked at her leader, who gestured to the sixteen-year-old saying, "You'll accompany Jack."

Clearly not interested, Arcee tried to fake still being affected by the purple substance and stretched saying, "Ohh, still dizzy."

However, Ratchet deflated her attempt and said, "You're fine, says your physician."

Arcee groaned but decided to go with it.

* * *

10:45 PM

Arcee was in vehicle form with Steve and Jack riding on her on her way to the Darby residence. Steve had changed out of his suit and back into his civilian clothes back at the base, and decided to come along with Jack as he thought he could help smooth things out with June over her son having a new bike.

They pulled up to Jack's home and the garage door opened for them, allowing the three in. Once inside, the two humans got off Arcee as Jack turned to her and said, "Arcee, I just wanted to say…I'm really sorry for your loss."

The female Autobot, however, didn't appreciate his sympathy and snapped, "What could _you_ possibly know about loss?!"

Offended by her words, Jack responded, "What? You think you're the only one with problems?!"

This caused the fembot to transform into her robot form and be on her knees as she looked down on him and retorted, "I'm not sure _girl trouble_ counts!"

As expected, Jack was not at all pleased with what she said. His fists clenched and he was about to say something when Steve extended his arms and got in between them.

Looking to the sixteen-year-old, Steve said, "Jack, maybe you should go to bed for now. Tomorrow is Saturday after all, and you'll need plenty of rest to be able to enjoy it any."

Sighing, Jack nodded in understanding and went inside. Once he closed the door, the super-soldier gave Arcee a glare.

"What? He's-"

"That was cold and you know it Arcee. I know you're grieving over the loss of your partner, as I've been there myself, but it doesn't justify your attitude towards Jack."

"He's a stupid kid trying to understand something he's never been through!"

"He does! When he was eight-years-old, he watched his dad get killed!"

That stunned the fembot and it took her a few moments before she regained her voice, "What…?"

"It'd be better if Jack told you what happened. But until then, I'd say you owe him an apology."

* * *

8:15 AM

Arcee had a lot on her mind. Last night, she had been placed in charge of protecting the sixteen-year-old Jack Darby. Even though she clearly had no interest in doing it, she went along as ordered. Once she and Cap had brought Jack home, she spat on the teenager's attempts at sympathy towards the loss of her partner and closest friend. In her spark, she knew it was wrong, but she didn't feel the need for pity at that time. However, upon learning that Jack had experienced loss as well, she realized what a pain in the aft she was being.

When Jack's mother, June Darby, came home, Cap helped smooth it over by saying that Arcee was the bike that Jack wanted, and that Cap had gotten her for him under the condition that he drive responsibly and wear a helmet all the time. A condition that June was very grateful for.

That morning, Arcee decided to get things settled and began revving her engine to wake the sixteen-year-old up. After a couple more, Jack came rushing to the garage door, dressed in the same outfit from the day before and said, "Ssh-Are you crazy?! You'll wake up my mom!"

Not wasting any time, Arcee said, "Grab your helmet, it's go time."

Rolling his eyes, Jack whined, "It's Saturday!"

"You can watch cartoons at base with Bumblebee."

Feeling undignified, Jack muttered, "Cartoons, I'm sixteen!"

Going back to grab a couple things, he heard Arcee yell, "And leave a note for you mom, she worries!"

* * *

8:47 AM

About thirty minutes later, Jack was riding on Arcee in silence as they drove out into the desert road. Once they reached a stop sign, however, the fembot decided to break the ice.

"Listen, Jack? About last night…"

"What about it?" asked the teen, with hint of anger in his voice.

"I was out of line when I said the things I did."

"Huh?" asked Jack. Clearly he wasn't expecting that.

"I didn't want anyone's pity at the time and wanted my space after all that I saw yesterday. Now that doesn't excuse the way I acted, but I hope that explains it." She figured that it might be best not to tell Jack what Cap told her about the teen's dad. Better to wait until the sixteen-year-old felt like mentioning it, "Anyway, I just wanted to apologize for the way I acted."

Jack smiled lightly and said, "Apology accepted."

Arcee's engine revved some more as she said, "Now that that's out of the way, tighten your grip Jack!"

"Whoa!" shouted Jack as the blue bike began to speed down the road on the back wheel while the front one stayed in the air. The teen laughed a little as he asked, "H-Hey, what's with you Arcee?"

The front wheel came down as they continued down the road, "Thought you might actually _enjoy_ the ride if you weren't getting shot at."

Feeling excited, Jack challenged, "Oh, bring it!"

* * *

9:55 AM

After taking the scenic route for about an hour, Arcee and Jack met up with Bulkhead and Bumblebee as they had fun with Miko and Raf respectively. The three Autobots drove all the way to base with their charges in tow. Once they got inside, they found Optimus and Ratchet talking with Cap.

Getting off and out of their respective rides, the kids made exclamations of excitement over what they each experienced with their guardians. Bulkhead heard something shake inside of him before opening his chest to pull out Miko's guitar.

Handing it down to her, Miko took it saying, "Sorry, must've left that in the back seat."

Optimus began walking towards the ground bridge as he said, "Autobots, prepare to-" then he looked down at the kids before looking back at his troops.

"Roll out?" asked Arcee.

"Remain here," replied the Autobot leader, "Ratchet, Captain America, you'll come with me. Arcee, we'll be outside the communications range for some time. So I'm putting you in charge."

"Dude," said Miko to Bulkhead, "you're biggest! You should be the boss!"

"Um, he…never picks me," replied the big green Autobot shyly.

Arcee walked up to Prime before saying, "Optimus, with all due respect, playing bodyguard is one thing, babysitting is another!"

That comment caused Jack to walk off to the other side of the room in annoyance.

"Besides," continued Arcee, "Ratchet hasn't been in the field since the war!"

"My pistons may be rusty, but my hearing's as sharp as ever!" snapped the CMO.

"For the moment," explained Prime, "It's only reconnaissance."

"Then why do I hear an edge in your voice?" asked the fembot.

"Arcee much has changed in the last twenty-four hours, and we all need to adapt." Looking at his CMO, Optimus ordered, "Ratchet, bridge us out."

With that, the bright green vortex of the ground bridge lit up, and the Autobot leader, CMO and Super Soldier walked through before disappearing from sight. Then the bridge closed, creating the dark half-tunnel that it usually was.

"Ok Chief," said Jack to Arcee, "so-uh, what's on the activities list?"

Arcee rolled her eyes before walking away saying, "I'm going on patrol!"

"But Optimus told us to stay!" piped in Bulkhead.

Arcee looked at him and countered, "When you're in charge, you can call the shots." Looking over to the team's scout, she said, "Bee, with me."

Bumblebee didn't want to, but he buzzed in defeat as he went along with the fembot.

Arcee patted the green Bot's arm as she said, "Bulkhead, you're in charge." Then she and Bumblebee transformed into their vehicle modes as they drove down the tunnel before anybody could say a word.

Turning to the kids, Bulkhead awkwardly asked, "So, uh…what's on the activities list?"

Suddenly, the speakers were giving off a painful screeching sound as Miko plugged her guitar into them and said, "How about…band practice!"

"But," said Raf, "we're not a band."

Miko laughed a little and said to the twelve-year-old, "Why so anti-social? Come on Raf, you play anything?"

Picking up his laptop, Raf replied with uncertainty, "Uh…keyboard?"

"Laptops and samples, good!" looking towards the other teen in the room, she asked, "Jack?"

"I…" Jack thought for a moment, "…sometimes mess around on the harmonica."

Miko stepped up to him with her hand on her chest and asked sarcastically, "Do _I_ look like I do country? Just cover yourself in fake blood and jump around screaming."

"Uh…" Jack tried to reply, but Miko walked over to Bulkhead before he could form a word.

"Bulkhead, percussion! We'll go for big industrial sound. DIY, We're a band!" Looking between Raf and Jack, she continued, "You just…gotta learn the songs. This one's a ballad. MY FIST, YOUR FACE!" She then proceeded to play a poorly put together bit of music with her guitar, causing Bulkhead and the two human boys to try and cover their ears in pain.

Miko's bad playing would've continued, had it not been for the blaring alarm and the flashing green screens of the computer. Upon hearing and seeing that, Bulkhead made the fourteen-year-old stop by saying, "Whoa-whoa-whoa!"

Miko rolled her eyes as she stopped and said, "Come on! _You_ can't handle raw power?"

"It's an SOS," replied Bulkhead as he walked up to the computer, "from Fowler!" he added in surprise. He tried to press the button for the location scan, but was met with difficulty as the sound stopped.

"Did you trace it?" asked Raf.

"Location scan is incomplete," he replied plainly, before saying dismissively, "Oh well."

This surprised Jack who asked, "'Oh well'? Seriously?"

Looking down at the sixteen year-old, Bulkhead said, "Fowler's a jerk."

This however, did not make Jack see things the green Bot's way, "W-Whoa! Whether you like the guy or not, the Decepticons may have him!"

"And Agent Fowler knows your location!" added Raf, before gulping and saying nervously, "Our location!"

Miko had her turn as well, "And did we not witness yesterday how fast Fowler backs down from a Bot and a superhero? The Cons will totally make him squeal!"

Still defending himself, Bulkhead replied, "But we lost the transmission. Fowler could be anywhere!"

Pulling out his laptop, Raf thought and said, "Maybe I can narrow it down." Opening the laptop and connecting it, Raf continued, "About five years ago, the government started microchipping their agents. You know, like owners do with pets!"

As the twelve-year-old began to work with the laptop, the two teens and green Autobot looked down on him in amazement.

Noticing their looks, Raf replied, "What? I saw it on TV." Going back to what he was doing, he said, "Anyway, if I can hack into S.H.I.E.L.D.'s mainframe, maybe I can find Fowler's coordinates."

Miko gestured to him and asked, "You know how to hack? But you're like…two-years-old?!"

"Twelve!" corrected Raf, before adding, "And a quarter." After about half-an-hour of hacking, Raf finally got the coordinates and said, "Latitude thirty-nine point five, longitude one hundred sixteen point nine."

Bulkhead typed in the coordinates and pulled the lever, making the ground bridge light up as he did. Looking at the kids, he said, "Ok, wait here!"

As he walked towards the portal's vortex, Miko whined and said, "Don't break up the band!"

Pausing before he went through, Bulkhead turned back and said, "Uh…Jack, you're in charge!" Then he ran through the portal and disappeared.

As the bridge closed, Jack looked to Raf before shrugging and saying, "Guess we three have the run of the place?" He looked up from the twelve-and-a-quarter-year-old to Miko, only to find she wasn't there, "Miko? Miko?" he asked a second time with an echo that received no answer but silence. After about a few minutes of looking, the two realized that Miko had gone through with Bulkhead, and then got up to the platform where the main computer was and looked at the ground bridge tunnel.

"What should we do?" asked Raf, "Bulkhead might not even realize that she followed him!"

"Miko hasn't seen the Cons in action like we have," stated Jack. Sighing, he continued, "She has no idea."

Typing into the human-sized version of the Bots' computer, Raf turned to Jack and said, "Those are the coordinates. Their destination's still locked in!"

Looking back and forth between Raf and the bridge tunnel, the teen sighed before saying to Raf, "You're in charge." and then walked away to the tunnel.

"In charge of who?" wondered Raf, before pressing a few buttons that made the bridge lever pull itself down. Then he walked to where Jack was as the tunnel lit up with the familiar vortex. The two went through.

However, after they did, Arcee called the base and said on the comm, "Arcee to base, come in! Jack, listen up, we need you to bridge us back! Hello?!"

* * *

10:33 AM

Jack and Raf successfully went through the portal as they felt the dirt beneath their shoes. They looked around to see that they were in the rocky Nevada desert with two canyon-like walls on either side.

A trembling Raf felt his chest and looked towards the teen before asking, "W-Whoa! Are your bones vibrating?"

Jack shrugged and scratched the back of his head before stopping to take in a view he didn't expect. The view of what appeared to be a massive, black, spiky alien ship, roughly the length of seven football fields.

The two boys were taken out of their amazement when they heard a distant voice from atop the ship shout, "You there!" They looked to see that it was three Con drones looking down at them with their blaster arms pointed in their direction.

"Where's a superhero when you need one?" asked Jack.

Suddenly, the three Cons began firing at the two boys, who tried to dodge. Jack noticed that Raf got knocked down and went over to shield him from the blasts before Bulkhead pulled up to them in vehicle mode and shouted, "GET IN! NOW!"

The two didn't waste time as the scrambled to get in the front seats of the green truck. Bulkhead closed his door before making a run for it as he drove behind some large rocks as the Cons shot at him.

"Thanks Bulkhead," said Jack with much gratitude.

"Yeah, thanks!" added Raf.

"W-What're you doing here?!" exclaimed the green Bot.

Putting on his seat belt, Jack explained, "We were worried about Miko. H-Have you seen her?"

Popping her head out of the back seat, the aforementioned exchange student teased, "What's she look like?"

Once he found a good boulder, Bulkhead drove behind it and opened his doors saying, "Everyone out!" As the kids got out of their seats, the green Bot added, "And this time, _please_ wait here?!"

After he was sure they were all out, Bulkhead drove with determination towards the Con ship. Jack and Raf noticed that Miko wasn't with them, and then looked around before spotting Bulkhead in robot mode climbing towards the Con Ship from the canyon side.

Rolling his eyes, the teen boy asked, "_Please_ tell me she didn't?"

"Given how she's acted so far, I wouldn't be surprised if she did," added Raf.

After about five minutes and loud clashing and blasting noises, the two boys saw Bulkhead standing on the edge of the top of the ship looking down at them as they poked their heads from around the corner.

"Where's Miko?!" he shouted. Then he looked down at his chest before opening it up to reveal the tired and sick looking girl he was asking for, "MIKO?!" he asked in an incredulous, yet somewhat humorous voice.

The two boys couldn't hear what they were saying, but witnessed as Bulkhead trashed a few more Con drones and a bit of the ship before taking himself and Miko inside of it while getting chased by more.

Jack and Raf exchanged concerned looks before the latter asked, "Think they forgot about us?"

Unfortunately, his answer came in the form of a large shadow with a claw reaching to grab them.

* * *

**AN: Well, that's chapter 2 for you. Hope you're enjoying this so far. I was admittedly surprised when I got four reviews on the night that I posted the previous one, all of them positive by the way. I'll start on the next one as soon as I can, which may take a little while given that I have college, homework and a job to take care of.**

**As always, read and review like crazy, and PM me with any questions or suggestions you might have.**


	3. Darkness Rising Part 3

10:45 AM

To say that Jack was nervous would be an understatement. He was scared to the point of nearly soiling himself. And it was because he and the younger Raf were being held in the hands of a Decepticon drone while another led the way as they walked down the hallway of the Decepticon Warship. The interior of the vessel could be at best described as dimly lit, with the feel of grimness all about.

"Bring them to the brig," ordered the drone in front, "Commander Starscream is keeping the other human there."

Jack and Raf exchanged looks as they realized that the other human that the drones were referring to must've been Agent Fowler.

As they moved into another hallway, the two boys heard the familiar revving of a motorcycle and a muscle car. The said car slammed the two drones down while the bike jumped and transformed into Arcee in midair, catching the boys as she slid her knees on the floor. As she put them down, the yellow car transformed into Bumblebee, who came up to greet his new human friends.

"Bumblebee!" said a happily excited Raf.

The yellow Bot made a series of happy whirs, glad to see that the two were safe.

"Appreciate you clearing the front door for us," said Arcee, before pointing her finger at them and saying, "but storming the Decepticon Warship was _not_ on the activities list!"

"Tell me about it," said Jack as he shrugged. "First Fowler sends an SOS about getting kidnapped by the Cons, then Bulkhead goes to get him, then Miko tries tagging along, then we get caught up by cons trying to stop her!" he threw his hands up in the air in exasperation.

"That girl's a load of trouble wherever she goes," sighed Arcee as she made them run down the hallway until they reached a corner. She motioned for them to get up against the wall on the right, and once they did, Arcee turned her arm into a blaster before moving around the corner. "Friendly!" she yelled, turning her arm back to normal.

"Hello!" yelled the familiar voice of Bulkhead, who changed his arm back to normal as well. The others went around the corner to see him carrying Miko in his hand.

"Brought the humans, didn't you?" asked a disappointed Arcee.

"You try getting them to stay behind!" countered Bulkhead, gesturing to Miko.

"Never mind, we need to find Fowler and get these kids out of here!" ordered the fembot.

"Uh…" started Jack, getting everyone's attention.

"He's in the brig!" said Jack and Raf in unison.

However, right after the boys said it, everyone suddenly found themselves under fire from more Con drones. Bulkhead set Miko down next to Jack and Raf as he, Arcee and Bumblebee ran up and took on the Cons. Arcee did a few bounce jumps off the walls of the hallway as she kicked a few heads off some drones. The kids turned to see Bumblebee shoot until Jack tried to move them out of the way towards the other side, right before moving back so as to avoid a drone head coming their way. They had to move again as Bulkhead got knocked to the floor when a drone tried to walk over him, only for the big Bot to toss him over to the middle of the floor where Arcee shot him in the head. With the drones out of the way, the kids sighed and walked as Bulkhead got up, and they all made a move for the bridge of the ship.

Once there, the door was shown to be closed, "We'd better get them to open up for us," stated Arcee, "or blasting our way in would make them alert the whole ship!"

Everyone nodded in agreement before the fembot knocked on the door a few times before it opened. Then she, Bulkhead and Bumblebee jumped in and proceeded to shoot any Con on sight, effectively making the bridge quiet. The kids came in from around the corner of the door once silence came into play.

"Wait in here!" ordered Arcee as she and the other two Bots walked towards the kids.

Bumblebee gave her a questioning whir.

"They're slowing us down, and they're easy targets!" she explained, "They'll be alright in here, as long as they _stay put_!" and the three Bots walked out of the room with blaster arms right before the door closed, leaving the three human kids in the bridge of the Warship.

"That," said Miko, quickly regaining her voice, "was intense!"

"Was?" asked Raf.

"It's your fault that we're stuck in this intensity!" said an angry Jack as he pointed his finger at the girl, "What were you thinking Miko?!"

"Did I _ask_ you to follow me?!" countered the fourteen-year-old, clearly not understanding that the situation was her own fault.

"You wanted us to be a band! Doesn't that usually mean playing _together_?!"

"Well maybe I decided to go _solo_!"

"Well maybe _I_ have some regard for your _safety_!"

"Oh, I'm sorry! Is your name _Optimus_?! You can leave my protection to Bulkhead, thank you very much!"

"AH! STOP IT! BOTH OF YOU!" yelled Raf as he ran for another part of the room where he pulled his lap to his chest and buried his face in his crossed arms.

"Hey-hey, Raf, it's okay-it's okay," said Jack, trying to comfort the twelve-year-old as he and Miko got on either side of him and sat down.

"Yeah, we're gonna be fine." added Miko, patting the youngest of them on the back.

"O-Our Bots will come back for us," added Jack, trying to think of something to say that would cheer Raf up.

"Yeah," said Miko softly, "they're gonna take us home."

Finally speaking, Raf said briefly, "How do _you_ know?"

Looking back each other, Miko and Jack realized that they didn't have an answer. "Hey Raf," said Jack as he looked up at one of the computer screens, "what do you make of that?"

Raf looked up and saw a complex set of symbols run across the screen. Then he got up and moved toward it to get a closer look, "It's important," he said as Miko and Jack got on either side of him, "_Real_ important. We have to get this to Optimus!"

"How do you know it isn't just a recipe for space nachos?" asked Miko.

"I know math when I see it," counter Raf, "and that is one _serious_ equation."

"Can you download it?" asked Jack.

"I've got a flash drive," said Raf as he pulled off his backpack and unzipped it, getting out the item in question, "But I don't see anywhere to plug it in. This tech is _way _alien."

Suddenly, large footsteps were heard, and the three human kids turned to see a Con drone walking into the room. Miko ran to the nearest hiding spot while Jack rushed Raf there as well. Unfortunately, Raf stopped and ran back to get his backpack. This action caused the drone to see him and shift its arm into a blaster aimed at the boy. The blaster charged up as the Con walked towards the twelve-year-old before firing, causing Jack to take action and run and jump as he grabbed Raf to get him out of the way.

Once they stopped sliding on the floor, Jack had a quick idea and yelled, "Miko, take a picture!"

"Great idea!" yelled the excited girl as she ran up to the Con and shouted, "Hey you!" Then she pulled out her phone and snapped a shot of the drone.

"Not of that!" yelled Jack, pointing at the Con "Of that!" he clarified as he pointed to the equation they were looking at earlier.

"Oh…!" said Miko in realization as she lined her phone up and snapped a picture.

Then the three of them ran for the door as the Con proceeded to repeatedly fire at them as they made it out.

"Go-go-go!" yelled Jack as they kept running with the Con following them and shot some more.

Then a loud honking noise was heard as Bulkhead drove up in truck mode before going past the kids and transforming into a run before tackling the Con and putting him out of commission. Then he changed back into his truck mode and bolted out.

Bumblebee and Arcee came up as well in vehicle mode. Miko and Raf got in Bumblebee while Jack got on Arcee, with the fembot yelling, "I told you to _stay put_!"

* * *

1:59 PM

The human kids and their Autobot guardians made their way off the ship with Fowler, and engaged in a long trip back to base since no one was operating the ground bridge. Once there, they were soon followed by Optimus, Ratchet and Cap. Explaining one another's day, everyone worked to help fix things up, and the three kids and Cap helped Fowler get on a hospital bed. Since Jack's mother was a nurse, he knew about how to set up a bed for a patient. Ratchet received help from Optimus in having a Cybertronian cast be put on his arm.

The kids looked from Fowler to Optimus, Ratchet and Cap before Miko asked, "What happened to you guys anyway?"

"We engaged an army of undead Cybertronian warriors," answered Ratchet.

"Zombies?" she asked before proceeding to get angry and huff, "You fought Zombies and I missed it?!"

"Bulkhead," addressed Optimus, "You exercised extremely poor judgment in allowing the children to accompany you."

Finding his words, the green Bot replied, "I-It won't happen again Optimus. I-I promise."

"But it wasn't Bulkhead's fault!" said Miko.

"Miko, please!" said Bulkhead, wanting her to hush.

"And check it out," she pulled out her phone and flipped it open to reveal the image, "recon!"

Optimus leaned in and saw the equation before addressing his CMO, "Ratchet, have a look. It could be of importance to Megatron."

"Whoa-Megatron's back?!" said Jack, walking up to the edge of the platform, "That's really bad news, right?"

Ratchet leaned in to see the image, only to be confused, "I…don't understand."

Miko looked to see and realized that she was showing the image of the Con drone, "Oops, that's the Con who tried to blow Raf away. At least, that's what he looked like _before_ Bulkhead decided to rearrange his grill!"

"Miko!" said an angry Jack, getting her attention, "Raf was almost _killed_! This isn't a game-when are you going to get that through your _thick_ skull?!"

"Um, we were _all_ almost killed, Jack. You, me, Raf, even _them_!" she countered, pointing towards the Bots.

"Well if this is just an average day with the Autobots, then I don't want to be a part of it! Not anymore!"

Miko was about to counter when Optimus got their attention, "Jack, putting you in harm's way was never our intent. However, it is no longer the safety of you three that is at risk, but the safety of all humankind. We will respect your decision if you wish to leave."

Before anyone could say anything, Ratchet activated the ground bridge and said quickly, "No point in long goodbyes, here's the door." Clearly he didn't give a damn.

"Come on Raf." said Jack to the twelve-year-old, who exchanged glances with a sad Bumblebee.

"I'll be ok Jack," said Raf, "See you at school."

"Sure thing," replied the teen as he walked down the stairs, where Arcee stood with her arms crossed and an almost blank expression, "I know, you don't exist."

"Don't make me hunt you down," said the fembot softly as Jack walked through. Once he did, her expression changed from blank, to sad, though she didn't let anyone see it.

* * *

10:36 PM

Jack was sitting in his garage fixing the wheel of a regular, non-motor-powered bike, contemplating the events of the last couple days. He explained to his mom that he didn't have Arcee anymore because she turned out to have some problems that he and Steve discovered, so they took her to a shop to get repaired for a while. Jack hated lying to his mom, but what else could he do without sounding crazy to her.

The teen was interrupted from his thoughts when a truck pulled up. It turned out to be Bulkhead in vehicle mode. Realizing who it was, Jack went back to work as he heard the door open and close on the green Autobot.

"_Now_ I understand why you had to rush home," said Miko playfully.

"Don't you have something more exciting to do, Miko?" asked Jack, not even bothering to face her.

"So, this is where you hang, huh?" asked the girl as she ignored his question, "Back home in Tokyo, I have loving parents, and two purebred cats, Chichi and Ding-Dong. I went to the best school, took piano lessons since I was three."

"How nice for you," replied Jack, still not interested and not facing her.

"No, how boring!" she countered.

That actually got Jack to look away from what he was doing and face her.

"It wasn't _me_. Why do you think I jumped at the chance to transfer here?"

"To Jasper, Nevada?" said the unconvinced boy, scoffing her with sarcasm, "The entertainment capital of the world?"

"Yeah, well, the brochure lied." She then walked up to the side of his work table before continuing her story, "Piano lessons were starting to look _pretty good_ in fact. But then, the last couple of days happened!"

"Do you have a point?!" sighed Jack.

"You bet! I saw what you did today. When you saved Raf-when you came to save me!"

Still not agreeing with her, Jack went back to his work and said, "I've been raised to be responsible. To my school work, my mom, my job! It's like my dad used to tell me before he died, 'with great power comes great responsibility.' Pardon how cheesy it sounds, but it's still the truth!"

"Look, I'm sorry about your dad, but Dude, hear me out. You're no _fry cook_, you're a _rock star_! Stop trying to pretend you're normal Jack. You'll never fit in. You were born to do so much more!"

Not looking at her, Jack replied, "Thanks Miko, but I think _normal_ suits me fine." and he just continued to work on his bike parts.

Groaning, Miko just walked out, hopped into Bulkhead and left the Darby residence. Jack watched them leave before return to his work without a care or worry in the world.

* * *

11:54 AM

The next day, as Jack left home for his job while riding a regular bicycle. As he pulled into the K.O. Burger's parking lot, he set up the bike to be parked and then looked up to see one of the blue figure of the restaurant's neon sign. While not exactly the same, it reminded him a little of Arcee, making him feel somewhat conflicted about his decision to not get involved with the Autobots, causing him to sigh.

"Nice bike," came a casual, yet familiar, feminine voice. Jack turned to see Arcee in motorcycle mode sitting there behind him.

"A-Arcee, really, Miko already tried. Tell Optimus I respect him big time, but…if you're at war with the Decepticons, there's nothing I can do to help." said the teen as he turned away from her.

"Optimus didn't send me, and no one's asking for your help," replied the fembot, clearing things up.

"Ok, so if we both agree that I'm not warrior material-" started Jack, only to be interrupted by the female bike.

"Jack, I just lost someone I cared about. Maybe it's the grief talking…maybe you're growing on me…whatever it is…I'm just not ready to say goodbye."

This touched Jack, and made him think hard.

* * *

1:54 PM

After about an hour and a quick bite to eat, Arcee returned to base with Jack. She made a beeping sound as she drove them down the tunnel into the main room, where the Bots, Cap, Miko and Raf were standing. They all seemed pleasantly surprised at the teen's return.

"Hey…guess whose back?" stated Jack as he took off his helmet and got off Arcee before she transformed into robot mode.

"Autobots," addressed Optimus, "prepare for departure."

Feeling a little disheartened at the lack of a reception to his return, Jack looked up at Arcee, who was adorned with a confused expression.

"Where to?" asked the fembot.

"The final frontier," explained Miko.

"What…space?" asked Jack quietly, "I-I-I thought that they didn't have any way to get there?"

"They don't," said Raf as Bumblebee put him on the ground, "really…"

"Be…seeing you?" asked Jack as he looked up at Arcee, who only responded with a smile and a shrug as she walked towards the other Bots.

Ratchet pulled the lever and the ground bridge lit up, and the other kids had words with their own Bot friends.

"Be careful Bee?" asked Raf, and the yellow scout nodded and whirred as he walked towards the bridge.

"I'm so jealous!" stated Miko to Bulkhead.

"Don't even think about following me!" ordered the green Bot.

"Optimus," said Ratchet from the lever, "if you leave me stranded on a planet teaming with humans, I will _never_ forgive you!"

"Until we meet again, Old Friend," smiled Optimus as he activated his face mask.

The three humans gathered together on the upper platform as they watched their Cybertronian friends get ready to leave. Jack turned briefly and noticed that Cap was right behind them.

"Steve? You're not going with them?"

"I would, but they don't have a suit that allows me to fight in space."

"Oh, I see," said the teenaged boy, accepting the super-soldier's logic.

"Autobots!" announced Optimus, "Roll out!" and the four field members changed into their vehicle modes and drove on through the vortex. It came to the surprise of the children when the portal didn't close a minute afterwards.

"Um, why is the ground bridge still open?" Raf asked the CMO.

"Because," explained Ratchet, "since the Captain isn't accompanying them out there, I've installed a camera into Optimus' helm. However, since it requires a strong signal, we need the ground bridge open in order to help maintain it. Otherwise, the video would be full of static and bad audio."

"Well that makes sense," agreed the twelve-year-old, "Um…what's a helm?"

"A helm is basically their word for a head, Raf," explained Cap before Ratchet could get any more frustrated with him.

The computer suddenly got their attention as it lit up the video feed.

"Show time!" shouted Miko, pumping her hands in the air.

"Ep-ep-ep!" hushed Ratchet, making the Japanese girl groan as she piped down.

"_Maximum overdrive!"_ said Optimus' voice from the feed, which went from showing the green, swirling energies of the ground bridge to the starlit black of space. Also shown was a large ring of sorts, with large pieces of rock adorning the outside part of it. Then Optimus continued his orders, "Autobots, transform…" the sound they usually made when they changed could be heard, _"…and gravitize!"_ Then the inner smoothness of the ring zoomed in, alongside the noise of some electricity and metal clanking against metal.

"_Whoa!"_ said the voice of Bulkhead, _"Don't look down. Or up, or left."_

The camera view turned to face the green Bot before turning even further to see the Decepticon Warship nearly blocking its view of Earth and getting closer before stopping about roughly two miles away.

"_So Megatron's packing enough dark energon to raise Cybertron's dead?"_ asked Arcee as the camera briefly glanced at her.

"_And since we don't possess ready means of disabling the space bridge,"_ said Optimus as he and the other members of the team turned their arms into blasters aimed at the Con Warship, _"nothing gets in, or out!"_

Among Cap and the kids, Jack decided to ask, "Say uh, anyone mind filling me since I walked out yesterday?"

"Remember when Ratchet said that me, him and Optimus fought a bunch of undead Cybertronians?" asked Cap.

Jack nodded.

"Well, turns out that that was just the beginning. Megatron's using something called dark energon, which according to Optimus has the power to reanimate a Cybertronian corpse."

"Whoa!" said the teen in amazement.

"And we've figured that he's using this space bridge to transport enough dark energon to Cybertron, where it'll reanimate the dead there, and then they'll come here through the bridge to Earth. Where they'll wreak havoc on humanity unless the Bots can derail it all from happening."

"Yeah," agreed Jack with a sigh, "we've got _a lot_ riding here."

"_Well,"_ they heard Arcee say as they looked back at the video, _"what're they waiting for?"_

Optimus lowered his blasters for a moment and looked out at the Warship before saying, _"It appears the Decepticons have sustained serious damage to their interstellar navigation system."_

"_Hey!"_ said Bulkhead with pride, _"That's my handy work!"_ It was true, as part of the damage he did to the ship when he went to get Fowler was tearing off a big dish of sorts and throwing it at some Con drones.

"_Great job Bulkhead,"_ congratulated Optimus, _"without the dish, Megatron will be unable to aim the dish at Cybertron."_

"Don't the Decepticons know where their own planet is?" Raf asked Ratchet.

"_Naturally_!" growled the CMO, "But Cybertron is many light years away, to reach their target their aim must be astronomically precise!"

"_If Megatron went to the trouble of rendezvousing with his space bridge,"_ said Optimus, _"he must have an alternate targeting system, a remote one."_

Ratchet looked doubtful as he said, "Humph, from what I know of Earth's technology I doubt there exists a single radio telescope dish on this planet _powerful enough_ to pinpoint Cyberton!"

"What about a whole bunch of _linked_ radio telescope dishes?" asked Raf as he typed an internet search before an image popped up, "Like the giant size array in Texas?"

"I think Stark Industries helped build-" started Cap, only to be cut off by Ratchet.

"Zip-ep-ep-ep-ep-ep!" snapped the CMO, clearly not impressed, "This is not child's play!"

"_Good thinking Raf,"_ said Optimus through the speakers, _"Ratchet, have Agent Fowler alert the array staff to the security hazard."_

"You there!" yelled Agent Fowler from his hospital bed, getting their collective attention, "Are you Captain America? Can you sign my trading card collection please?" Then he fell back to sleep.

"_That_ may be a challenge," said the CMO, shaking his head.

Raf went back to the array website and typed in some more, "I can't get past the array's firewalls! They're too thick!" said the twelve-year-old as he slammed his fist on the desk.

"_You_," said an unconvinced Ratchet, "actually think you could keep the Decepticons out?"

"Maybe, if I could get in."

"W-W-Wait, Raf," butted in Jack, "what we could get you…_all_ the way in, like 'inside the building' in?"

"I could log into their internal network on the other side of the firewall!" realized the twelve-year-old.

"_The risk is too great!"_ said Optimus, _"The Decepticons will be there, perhaps even on site!"_

"Optimus," said Jack, "with all due respect, you said it yourself, this is bigger than the safety of three humans."

"Yeah!" agreed Miko, "If we let the Cons win, then we're screwed, along with everyone else on our planet!"

After about a moment, Optimus asked, _"Raf?"_

"I want to give it a shot!" said the preteen with determination.

* * *

2:15 PM

A green vortex of swirling energies appeared on the inside of a fence line. Jumping out of it were Jack, Miko, Raf and Cap. While the super-soldier managed to get up straight, the kids had a bit more trouble handling the effects of the ground bridge exit.

"That'll take some getting used too!" stated Jack as he rubbed his head. Looking up, the four found that they were at the site of the dishes. Running to the back door, they found an empty hallway and snuck in. The four of them made their way to a dimly lit computer room, where Raf successfully logged in and got to work.

Miko walked up to the door and looked out and around before going back in and saying, "Security sure is lax in this place."

"Just in case, I'll stand watch at the door," stated Cap as he stood by the entrance to the room.

"I'm in!" exclaimed Raf as he typed some more. However, his expression turned grim when he said, "And so are the Decepticons!"

"What?!" asked Jack.

"How can you tell?" said Miko.

With images shifting on the computer screen, Raf explained, "Schematics, with the same alien math we saw on the ship. But _this_ time," he pulled out a flash drive, "I can download it!" Then he plugged in the drive and continued his work.

"It's gotta be the space bridge!" said Miko.

"The Decepticons are syncing it to the dishes," explained the twelve-year-old, "but I can sync to _them_!"

"Will they know?" worried Jack.

"Even if the Decepticons know I'm in the system, they'll have no idea that I'm in the house," reassured Raf. However, a few moments later, the screen beeped with a one of the images turning red, and the twelve-year-old said, "They're locked onto Cybertron, but not for long!" and Raf succeeded, but a moment later, he saw it, "The dishes are headed back towards Cybertron. I'll just undo that again."

"W-What happens when the Cons realize they're being punked?" asked Jack as he leaned in to Raf's ear.

"It's only virtual combat," said the confident preteen, "You know, like online gaming."

"Yeah Jack," added in Miko, "What are the Cons gonna do? They're probably like a thousand miles away."

"GET DOWN!" shouted Cap as he got away from the door. The three kids did what he ordered as the door burst open to reveal a long glowing purple cable of sorts with a clawed hand on the end. It reached for Raf, but Cap got in the way and started to deflect and bash it with his shield. The twelve-year-old managed to pull out his flash drive before the claw knocked the computer to the floor in one swipe. Miko saw an axe planted on the wall and proceeded to take it down and then try to hack at the cable, only for it to knock her back before grabbing the axe and then leave the room with it.

"An axe?! You handed it an axe?!" Jack yelled at Miko.

Cap led the way as he and the kids chased it all the way back to a large room with large hard drives and an open sunroof. Also inside in the room was a large but slim Con with a visor for a face, arms that looked like they could easily turn into the wings of a plane, and a gray and purple color scheme.

"Soundwave!" exclaimed Cap.

"You know him?!" exasperated Jack.

"He's the Cons' intelligence officer, and I once cracked his visor!" explained the super-soldier briefly as he threw his shield at the large Con, only for the said foe to catch it with his other tentacle with little effort and without even so much as turning his head. Then the Con without a face dropped the shield before using the claw holding the axe to cut a large cable on the floor and then jump out the sunroof window. However, before leaving, he turned to look at Cap and the kids. Miko got out her phone and took a picture of him, and then Soundwave did the same for all four of them before transforming into a plane-like structure and taking off into the sky.

"Why is he leaving?" wondered Miko aloud.

Raf went over to the axe and answered her grimly, "He cut the hard line…the dishes are locked onto Cybertron, for good."

"Don't worry Raf," said Cap as he put a hand on the youngster's shoulder, "the battle isn't over yet. But right now we need to get back to base." Putting a finger to the side of his cowl, the Captain said, "Ratchet, we need a quick bridge back to base. Soundwave made the dishes lock onto Cybertron permanently."

The CMO could be heard sighing over the comm, right before a green vortex appeared in front of the kids and Cap, which they prominently walked through to the Bot HQ. Once there, Ratchet closed the bridge before reopening it, allowing the video from earlier to come back.

It showed Optimus' hand as a blade slicing through a couple Con drones before looking up a what appeared to be a glowing purple rock coming towards them.

"I take it that's the dark energon?" asked Jack.

"Yep!" confirmed Cap.

Optimus transformed his other hand into a blaster and began shooting at the dark substance to no avail, and turned to watch as it went through the space bridge.

"_ARISE MY LEGION!"_ shouted a raspy, yet commanding voice.

"W-Who was that?" asked Raf.

"That, Rafael, is Megatron!" answered an angry Ratchet.

"King Con?" asked Miko.

"_So,"_ said Bulkhead's voice as the view came to face him, _"how do we beat a whole planet of the undead?"_

"Optimus!" yelled Ratchet as he looked at the computer screen beside the video, "I'm registering a rapidly expanding mass in their space bridge vortex, one with a _peculiar_ energy signature!"

"_Dark energon."_ said Optimus, already knowing what it was, _"Ratchet, we must destroy the space bridge! There's enough live energon coursing through it to achieve detonation. But we lack the firepower to ignite it!"_

"If I knew how the space bridge was engineered, I might have a way of accomplishing that feat." stated the CMO.

Suddenly, without warning as Fowler walked over to where everyone was, a loud sound took over the sound systems. The sound in particular was a rock song;

shoot to thrill play to kill

I got my gun at the ready gonna fire at will

Cause I shoot to thrill and I'm ready to kill

I can't get enough and I can't get my fill

The ceiling began to crumble and collapse from above over the human platform. A new figure abruptly fell through. He landed legs splayed and his fist slammed into the ground. The figure was covered in shifting mechanical red and gold armor, with a single glowing blue orb in the middle. His eyes were glowing blue as well.

I'm gonna shoot to thrill

play to kill, shoot to thrill

He stood up and raised his hands at Ratchet. An army knife worth of weapons sprouted from the armor, "Step away from the terminal, Tiny!"

"Tony, no!" yelled Cap as he bounced his shield off the figure's chest and back to him.

"Tony?" asked all three of the kids.

"Kids," started Cap, "meet Tony Stark, also known as Iron Man."

"The head of Stark Industries?" asked Raf.

"And a genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist," stated Iron Man through his suit, before looking at Cap and asking, "Now you mind telling me why I shouldn't be shooting at one of the robots that hacked into my dishes?"

"I did no such thing!" yelled Ratchet, getting Iron Man's attention, "We were trying to _prevent_ the dishes from being used by the Decepticons!"

"Decepti-who?" asked the billionaire, tilting his helmeted head, "All I know is that my dishes were being hacked, and the security cameras showed that it was a large robot that did it. And they also showed Cap and some kids trying to stop it before going through some kind of portal. I figured that since he was fighting that robot, then you must be in cahoots with it because I don't see any other ones around here."

"Allow me to explain Tony," barged in Cap before the CMO could get any more frustrated. After giving the playboy as short an explanation as he could, he finished up and waited for a reaction.

"So let me get this straight," said Iron Man, "There's a race of alien robots with two factions; the Autobots, the good guys, and the Decepticons, who're the bad guys. They're home planet was made lifeless because of their war, and now they're here to use our world as their new battlefield. And right now the other Autobots are in Earth's orbit trying to stop an invasion of zombie robots that the Decepticons are bringing in through a large teleportation device called a Space Bridge, which they needed my dishes for because there's are damaged?"

"Pretty much!" shrugged Jack.

"Yeah," said the billionaire, "I see it, though I'm still working on believing it."

"_Mr. Stark,"_ said Optimus through the system, _"whether you believe it or not is immaterial, because now we need to destroy this space bridge in order to save your world."_

"That I can't argue with!" stated Iron Man before saying, "JARVIS, I think it's that time."

"_The House Party Protocol, Sir?"_ asked a British voice through the suit.

"Yep, send 'em here."

"What's the House Party Protocol?" asked Jack, "And who's JARVIS?"

"You'll see in a minute," said Iron Man passively, "and JARVIS is an AI I created to help me get things done."

"In the meantime," said Ratchet, "I still need to know the layout of the space bridge before we can destroy it."

"Hey," said Raf, pulling out his flash drive, "would schematics help?"

After hearing that, the CMO addressed Prime through the communications system, "Optimus, I must say, the space bridge is our _sole_ hope of _ever_ returning to Cybertron. Are you _certain_ its destruction is the only option?"

"_I am afraid so…"_ answered Optimus solemnly.

"Then by all means," responded Ratchet with determination, "let us light our darkest hour!"

"They always like this?" Tony asked Cap.

"You get used to it, though you haven't met the others yet," answered the super-soldier, "Hopefully you will if they survive this."

"_Sir, they're almost at your location,"_ said JARVIS through the Iron Man suit.

"Well Cap, I may just be able to help with this!" said Tony.

"What do you mean?" asked the super-soldier.

"Look up," the armored hero pointed to the ceiling, where everyone saw dozens of armors like Iron Man's come in one at a time, each one with a different height and appearance and floating around the room. Looking nowhere, the playboy then said, "JARVIS, you finish that check yet?"

"_Yes, Sir, I have all the information from the Autobots' computer, and know which one is which."_

"What is that contraption of yours talking about?" asked an irritated Ratchet.

"When you guys weren't looking, I had JARVIS hit your files so that I can know more about who I'm dealing with."

"YOU DID WHAT?!"

"Look at it this way Doc Bot, at least my boys here will know who not to attack." Looking back at the floating armors in the room, Stark then said, "Well what're you guys waiting for, it's Sunday." He gestured towards the ground bridge vortex and continued, "Take 'em to Church!"

"Yes, Sir!" said all the armors in unison with JARVIS' voice before they all made a break for the ground bridge, going through one by one.

Everyone looked at the video feed and saw as the ground bridge portal in space erupted with all the different Iron Men flying all around the much larger space bridge.

"_Autobots,"_ said Optimus as he turned to view the others, _"take your positions and follow Ratchet's lead!"_ Bulkhead, Bumblebee and Arcee nodded as they ran to the other parts of the space bridge. Optimus turned the view back to see a purple stream of light heading towards him from the Decepticon Warship, _"While I make my stand!"_

Coming closer, the purple light was revealed to be a silver, alien-looking jet, which came further and transformed into a rather imposing and deadly looking robot with a large cannon on his right arm.

"Megatron!" gritted Ratchet through his teeth.

"I take it that's the Decepticon boss?" asked Tony, who got a nod from the other humans in confirmation.

"_Your fellow Autobots are wise, Optimus,"_ said Megatron, his voice both raspy and threatening at the same time, _"they know when to retreat!"_

"I hold no illusions about engaging your army, Megatron," responded Optimus, "but I might derail its objective by removing its head!" the sound of Optimus' arm transforming could be heard, but whether it was a blaster or a blade was anyone's guess.

The Decepticon Warlord laughed evilly before countering, _"Highly unlikely Optimus, as I am infused with their very MIGHT!"_

"_One shall stand, one shall fall!"_ said Prime, right before his rival unleashed a blade from underneath his arm cannon, and the two charged at one another. And one blow after another, the opponents swung blades at each other, both narrowly dodging and barely getting hit. Optimus slashed a few times with Megatron blocking as best he could until Prime's blade back handed him across the face, causing he Decepticon warlord to skid not too far across the metallic layer of the space bridge. Optimus ran towards the downed warlord and proceeded to slam his arm blade down, only for it to be blocked by his opponent's own blade.

As the two leaders were fighting, Fowler noticed the signatures of the undead Cybertronians on the computer screen at base, "These things are getting closer!" Then he turned back to everyone and asked, "That's bad, right?"

"Yeah, that's an intelligence agent for you." said Stark sarcastically as he watched Raf type up the schematics of the space bridge.

"_Ratchet, we're in position,"_ said Arcee through the communications.

"You know, it kind of surprises me that a race of robots would have gender. I'd be interested in getting up close and personal with this Arcee if I wasn't already in a committed relationship," said the armored playboy blatantly.

Jack gave the billionaire an irritated look and growled, "I don't think you're her type."

When Raf pulled up an image of what appeared to be a complex cylinder of sorts, Ratchet said, "Arcee, pay _close_ attention!"

"_Starscream, what is it?!"_ Jack and Cap heard Megatron say as they looked back to the video to see it shift as Optimus tried to get to his feet. Then the Lord of the Decepticons spoke to Prime directly, _"Ah, misdirection, Optimus. You would've made a FINE Decepticon!" _Megatron raised his arm and slashed down at the camera, only to be blocked by his opponent's blade.

"_I CHOSE my side!"_ replied Optimus with determination, before knocking his foe's blade back and transforming his own arm into a blaster and shooting the Warlord back several feet.

"Uh, JARVIS? Have Igor come in and help Prime, and keep the others blasting into the vortex, will ya?"

"_Yes, Sir,"_ complied the A.I.

Looking back at the screen, Jack, Cap and Tony saw not only Prime's arm shooting at the floating form of Megatron, but also a rather large Iron Man armor that, true to its name, was hunched over, as well as throwing fists at the Decepticon Lord. Optimus and the camera looked up to see all the other different suits blasting off beams of energy into the swirling maelstrom of the space bridge's energies, specifically aiming at the growing masses of Megatron's undead army that kept getting closer and closer.

Back with Ratchet, he continued instructing the other members of the team, "Now follow the line from the flow regulator to the energon pump. There should be a valve."

"_I see it,"_ replied Arcee.

"Good, and to turn all that power against itself, all you need do is _reverse_ the current!"

After a moment and some struggling sounds, the fembot responded, _"Current reversed."_

"YES!" Fowler jumped for joy, before looking down at Raf and asking, "Right?"

"I'll keep the ground bridge open and ready," stated the CMO.

Looking back at Optimus' camera view, everyone saw that Megatron had torn through the suit that attacked him, and was now flying in his alien jet form, shooting at all of Tony's suits.

"Ok, note to self, remember to send Decepticons a bill for all those suits!" stated the calm, but upset billionaire.

Then, after a few more armors exploding, the silver jet disappeared behind the bridge's outer rocky ring. Optimus turned around to see that the smooth plates of the inner ring were beginning to come off at a rapid rate as a humming sound began to increase. Prime then ran away from it towards the dimness of space.

"Optimus, the ground bridge is ready and waiting for you four," assured Ratchet.

"Autobots," addressed Prime, "jump!" then the camera view went up a little before looking down at a small vortex of green energies and passing through.

Everyone turned to the lit bridge tunnel as they waited for the four Bots to return.

Raf looked at Ratchet and asked, "Do you think they're…"

The CMO looked at his arm, which showed four signs, and said, "Four life signals," then he added grimly, "One very faint."

The kids, Cap and Iron Man looked at the bridge to see Optimus come through first.

When a certain green Bot came through, Miko smiled, ran down the steps shouting "Bulkhead!" happily before embracing the big guy's finger in a hug, as his stature made it impossible for her to reach around him.

Jack and Raf walked down to see a sad Bumblebee walk through with a near-dead-looking Arcee in his arms. The older boy ran up to the yellow bot and grabbed a hold of the blue fembot's hand, hoping that she was ok. Miko and Cap put a hand on Jack's shoulder in comfort.

"We lost one this week," said Ratchet, expressing his own concerns, "by Primus, don't let it be two…"

After the sixteen-year-old held onto his guardian's hand for a few moments, her eyes finally opened, "Arcee…?" he asked with quiet hope evident in his voice.

"Jack, really?" asked the blue fembot weakly, "There are other motorcycles in the world…"

"But, you're my first," said the teen gently.

"And Megatron…?" Ratchet asked Optimus.

"Not even _he_ could've survived ground zero," was all the leader could say.

"Prime!" yelled Fowler from the elevator entrance, "I didn't get to thank you Bots for the save. I owe you one. We _all_ do." But before the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent could get through to the elevator, another voice got their attention from the computer with a video to add to that.

"_Fowler, don't think for a moment that you're leaving that soon!"_ the voice belonged bald-headed African-American man in his mid to late fifties wearing a black leather trench coat with black clothing underneath. What really stood out, though was that the man was an eye patch over his left eye, with what appeared to be large scratches of sorts behind it.

Everyone walked towards the large computer, with Cap and Fowler in front; "Director Fury." said the agent and super-soldier in unison.

"_Fowler, I let you have the Autobots keep an eye on the kids with the condition that they don't get hurt or do something that causes problems. And not long ONE day after I make that condition, you let the youngest hack the damn S.H.I.E.L.D. mainframe! THAT is a problem-a problem that I have to deal with!"_

"Um…Sir?" asked the nervous Raf.

"_What?!"_ snapped Fury.

"The only reason I hacked S.H.I.E.L.D. was to help save Fowler's life." squeaked the twelve-year-old.

"Yeah!" chipped in Bulkhead, "The Cons had taken him, so we needed a way to find him!"

"_That doesn't matter,"_ stated the S.H.I.E.L.D. director, _"The fact remains that a twelve-and-a-half-year-old hacked the mainframe of a government agency. And that's causing all kinds of ruckus here."_

"Sounds like it's more of an embarrassment for you than anything else, Fury," quipped Stark, "Especially after what happened with Superman."

"What does Superman have to do with this?" asked Jack.

The S.H.I.E.L.D. director paused a moment before sighing and answering, _"Four years ago, Earth learned that it had an immigrant from another planet, who had a grudge match that LEVELED a city."_

"I think I heard about that…" pondered Jack.

"The Metropolis Incident?" asked Raf.

"_Precisely,"_ stated Fury, _"and because of that, we learned that NOT ONLY are we not alone, but also, that we are hopelessly-hilariously out-gunned."_

"From my understanding, Director," added Optimus, "this Superman is the last of his kind, and that he means no harm towards this planet."

"_Yeah, but his kind weren't the only people out there, as confirmed by you and the Decepticons. But, aliens aren't the ONLY threat. The world is filling up with people who can't be matched or controlled. Which is why S.H.I.E.L.D. has to look strong and have a handle on it all. And the fact that young Mr. Esquivel here was able to get inside our mainframe so easily doesn't help."_

Raf's head drooped at that, and Jack and Miko put their hands on either of his shoulders for comfort.

"However, since his actions worked in our favor and got one of our agents back, we're willing to let this one go with a warning. You kids ever do something like this again, and you're butts belong to S.H.I.E.L.D., got it?""

The three adolescents nodded in unison, fearful of what the man might say if they disagreed.

"_And one more thing. Fowler?"_

"Yes, Sir?" answered the agent.

"_Two days? It took you two days to take a completely renovated stated-of-the-art helicopter and turn it into scrap?!"_

"Well, Sir, the Cons got to me when I was flying the copter," explained Fowler.

"_Regardless, I want to at least TRY to bring the machinery we give you back in one piece, got it?"_

"Understood, Sir."

"_Good, I already gave Coulson a lecture about authority, so I don't need to give you one."_

"No sir you don't."

"_And Cap?"_

"Yes Director?" answered the super-soldier.

"_Be sure to keep an eye on the kids."_

"Will do Director."

"_Fury out."_ And with that, the video was gone, and Fowler walked into the elevator and left.

"Well, I'd better get going," said Iron Man nonchalantly, before looking back at everyone and saying, "Nice meeting you all, we should get together sometime. You know, have lunch and discuss plans, exchange technology and the like? If you need me, you know where to find me!" And with that, the armored playboy shot out of the base through the hole in the roof that he made earlier.

"I do not like him…" grumbled Ratchet.

"He may be full of himself," started Cap, "but Tony means well." Looking back at the three kids, Cap said, "I believe it's time we got you three home."

Looking worried, Miko walked towards Optimus and asked, "Is this the part where you tell us to forget we ever saw you?"

* * *

3:45 PM

Jack, Raf and Miko walked down the front steps of their school, leaving since classes were over for the day. Looking out at the parking lot, they happily saw a familiar set of vehicles; a blue motorcycle, a green truck, and black and yellow Urbana 500. Running out to said vehicles, the kids readied themselves for what was sure to be another fun day at the Autobot Base. After about a half hour, all six arrived at the Bot HQ, and Jack spotted Steve wearing his civilian clothes in the corner.

Looking up at his guardian, Jack asked, "Could you excuse me for a moment?" Arcee shrugged and nodded before walking off. The sixteen-year-old made his way towards the super-soldier and announced his presence, "Hey Steve!"

"Hey Jack. How's it going?"

"Just fine, though I wanted to talk to you about something."

"What would that be?"

Scratching the back of his head, Jack said, "Well…to be honest, I wasn't initially sure what to think of you when you and Mom started dating. No offense!"

"None taken," replied Steve calmly.

"But, considering all that I've seen in the last few days, I've decided that…"

"That what?" asked the confused soldier.

"That you're alright, for an old man anyway." Reaching out his hand, Jack and Steve shook.

* * *

**AN: Well, that's the chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did writing it. Took me a while, but I finally got a DC reference in this, and as you might know, Fury's mention of Superman was reference to both the Man of Steel and the Avengers. More heroes will come in the upcoming chapters, but you'll have to read to see who. And before anyone asks, no, I am not putting Coulson in this.**

**As always, read and review like crazy people, as that motivates me to keep going with this.**


	4. Game Changer

4:17 PM

"Hey, Arcee?" asked Jack as they came into the base.

"Yeah?" responded the blue fembot.

"Our school's science fair is coming up, and I was wondering if maybe you could help me with my project?"

"Depends on what it is," she stated playfully.

"Nothing big, just the mechanics of motorcycles," said the teen plainly.

"And how would you explain that?"

"Basically by building a bike," shrugged the sixteen-year-old.

"Jack, just because I can turn into a motorcycle doesn't mean I know how they're made."

"But you do know how they work, right?"

The fembot sighed, "Yes, but that still doesn't make me an expert."

Suddenly the ground bridge was heard, and out came an excited Bulkhead and Miko, the former of whom shouted, "You are _not_ going to believe what we just found!"

"What is it?" asked Ratchet.

"We think we just found the picture of an energon harvester in an ancient Greek city!" said the green bot excitedly.

"A what?!" asked Ratchet and Arcee together as the fembot walked up to them with Jack and Raf.

"Before we show you, where's Optimus, Cap and Bee?" asked Miko.

"They're out on a scouting mission and will be gone for some time," explained Ratchet, "Did you get an image of this picture?"

"You got it Doc Bot!" said Miko, pulling out her phone and flipping it open to reveal the image what she and Bulkhead saw.

Leaning in to get a closer look, the CMO groaned, "You know I can't see much on that tiny screen, right?"

"Fine," sighed Miko, "Hey Raf! You mind pluggin' this up?" she asked, handing the twelve-year-old her phone.

"S-Sure Miko," answered Raf as he hooked the phone into the computer terminal, and after a minute of tinkering, pulled up the image from it. It appeared to be a wall painting depicting a woman in ancient Greek armor, holding a large golden orb of sorts.

Ratchet examined the picture before going wide-eyed and saying, "By the Allspark, it _is_ an energon harvester!"

"Mind filling us in on what that is?" asked Jack, before Miko and Raf nodded in agreement.

Pinching what appeared to be his nose, the CMO explained, "An energon harvester is a powerful tool created by the Ancients to remove raw energon from any source."

"Greek gods knew Autobots?" asked Raf, looking between Jack and Miko.

"No," corrected Ratchet, "The ancients would often use the art of a given era to conceal messages. This fresco was most likely a signpost, indicating the location of a harvester somewhere on this planet."

Jack thought for a moment before asking, "Uh, Ratchet? If the harvester removes energon from anything, and you all have energon pumping inside you…" He didn't need to finish, as his concern could be felt by all in the room.

"The harvester would be _devastating _weapon in Decepticon hands," nodded Ratchet.

"See?" said Miko to Bulkhead, "You were a _genius_ to total that painting!"

"Total?" asked Arcee.

"I…may've destroyed it when Breakdown came in and fought me…" answered the green bot nervously.

"Who's Breakdown?" asked Raf.

"Bulkhead's Con arch nemesis!" said the excited fourteen-year-old girl.

"Miko's not wrong," said Arcee in a congratulatory way to Bulkhead.

"For once," whispered Jack.

"How can the Cons find the harvester without the fresco?" stated Arcee logically.

However, Raf put a damper on their mood by looking up some pictures on his laptop and saying, "With high speed internet. If you do a search for 'Greek warrior woman' and 'golden orb', this pops up." Showing everyone his laptop, Raf revealed an article showing a statue of an armored woman holding a the harvester in front of her, and being carried off to a Lexcorp lab where it would tested to see what it is, "It's in a laboratory."

"That the real deal?" asked Arcee to Ratchet.

The CMO nodded and stated, "We should contact Agent Fowler." Going to the larger terminal, Ratchet typed in their S.H.I.E.L.D. liaison's contact information and proceeded to call him through the computer. After waiting a few minutes, however, their response was less than fruitful.

"You've reached Special Agent William Fowler," replied an answering machine, "I'm currently on an intensive training retreat, and won't be back until Tuesday."

"I hate talking to machines…" grumbled Ratchet.

"And look who's talking?" pointed out Miko.

Ignoring her, the CMO said, "Without Agent Fowler's direct aid in this, we'll have to retrieve the harvester ourselves."

"Whoa-whoa-whoa, retrieve?" butted in Jack, "As in steal Lexcorp property?"

"That sounds…illegal," added Raf.

"Optimus wouldn't want us to break any human laws," said Ratchet seriously, "but as soon as the Decepticons get wind of the harvester's location, they'll do whatever it takes to get it. So this requires covert action."

"Uh, no offense Ratchet, but 'covert' and 'giant robots' don't really go together. Lexcorp is bound to have its labs covered with guards and security cameras."

"No problem!" stated Miko to the older teen, "_We're_ small enough to sneak in and get out!"

"Miko…" said Bulkhead, getting her attention, "I'm not sure that's such a great idea."

"It's probably our best option at present," assured Ratchet, "and the longer we debate over this, the more time we give the Decepticons."

* * *

9:45 PM

Later that night, at the Lexcorp Labs in Las Vegas, Nevada, Arcee and Bulkhead drove around the building to make sure that the coast was clear of any Decepticons. Once they were back up front, the fembot contacted the base.

"_Jack, Miko, Raf, remember, we won't have a clear view of you, so once secure the harvester, you have to use your coms in order to let us know. Once you do, we'll have Ratchet bridge you back to base, got it?"_

"Got it Arcee," said Jack through the com system as he, Miko and Raf stood waiting in front of the bridge tunnel.

The CMO pulled the lever and lit up the tunnel before addressing the kids, "Now since you'll bypass all points of normal entry, you won't need to worry about setting off the alarm. But _take care_ to avoid any security guards."

The three nodded and walked through the portal. Once they did, they found themselves in a black-walled hallway with many white doors. Making their way quietly, Jack, Miko and Raf walked from door to door, peeking inside each room to see if their target was anywhere to be found. It wasn't until they reached another hall that they heard the sounds of a couple scientists walking and talking around the corner. Getting behind one of the doors, the three waited and listened as the two scientists passed by.

"Any progress so far on the relic so far?" One of the scientists asked.

"Nothing, so far we've been unable to detect anything special, except for a faint energy signature." another answered.

"And still no progress on determining where the energy is coming from?" the first asked.

"No." the second one answered.

The first one sighed, "Mr. Luthor will _not_ be pleased if we don't make progress."

"I _know_!" The second one retorted, "I'm the one _writing_ the damn reports to him, how do you think _I_ feel?"

Hearing them, the kids pondered what they were listening to.

"They must be talking about the harvester," whispered Jack.

"Probably," whispered Raf with Miko nodding.

Then Jack turned away from the door to see the room they were in, and received quite a shock. Inside the dim room, there was a large, gridded, see-through cylinder in the middle with ultraviolet lighting in it. Jack could've sworn that he saw something very small move in it.

"Hey guys?" asked the sixteen-year-old to his friends, "Look at this."

Getting up from their place at the door, the three walked towards the cylinder with wonder and quiet awe. Moving inside of it, Jack finally caught a glimpse of what moved in it; a spider, crawling on a web inside the structure. And as it turned out, it wasn't alone, as there were many of its kind with it. However, the eight-legged creatures soon became active when the silence aspect of the kids' mission was broken by Miko.

"AHH!" she screamed, "SPIDERS!"

Unfortunately, this caused the door to open and reveal the two scientists from earlier, and neither of them looked happy.

"Hey!" yelled one of them.

"What're you three doing in here?!" bellowed the other.

"Run!" ordered Jack and the three of them made a break for it, shoving past the scientists and heading towards the other end of the hall.

"Come back here!" yelled the first, before looking at the second and saying, "Call security."

The three kids ran until they found a room that seemed good enough to hide in. Once they got in, they took a deep breath and kept their ears peeled to the door in case trouble came. After about five to ten minutes, Jack, Miko and Raf finally let out a sigh of relief. Then they looked towards the room and found the statue and the large golden orb that were their targets on two tables.

"Whoa…" said Raf.

Pulling out his com, Jack said, "Ratchet, we have the harvester."

"_Good, are you away from any cameras?"_ asked the CMO worriedly over the com.

Jack looked around before saying, "No, there doesn't appear to be any."

"_Excellent, I'll lock onto your phones' coordinates and activate the ground bridge to where you are."_

"Got it," said Jack before putting the com back in his pocket.

However, before they could wait for the familiar green vortex, a metallic screeching was heard. The three covered their ears and tried to block it out to no avail.

"What is that!?" yelled Jack at the top of his lungs.

The answer came in the form of a hole being made in the roof on the other side of the roof. Out of the dust cloud a large angular drone that resembled a condor with its wings stretched out, floated in. It whirred as several tentacles sprouted from its body and grasped the orb. With a single tug, it pulled the orb off the table and flew back through the hole it had just created.

The three just stood dumbstruck at what happened before them.

"Wow…that was fast." said Miko, being the first to speak.

"_What just happened?"_ asked Ratchet over the com.

"The Cons got the orb," answered Jack.

The CMO groaned in frustration before saying, _"Then bring the statue, it may have some residual energy that can lead us to the harvester."_

"Gotcha," said Jack, "just bridge us back soon please? That made a lot of noise and I don't know how much longer it'll be before the security comes in and gets us."

As if to confirm Jack's fear, the door to the room started to make banging noises, followed soon by shouts of, "What's going on in there?!" or "Open this door now!"

"Ratchet, you'd better hurry!" yelled Jack as he, Miko and Raf picked up the statue, and it was heavy enough to where they all needed to carry it.

Then the familiar green vortex appeared in the middle of the room, and the three kids made a break for it as the door burst open. Once they got through to the base, Ratchet turned the portal off, making it vanish in time before any of the security could come through.

"Whew!" exclaimed Miko, "Now _that's_ cutting it close!"

"I'll bridge the others back," said Ratchet before typing in the coordinates. Then, after activating the bridge a second time and waiting a few minutes, Bulkhead and Arcee came through in their vehicle modes before transforming back into robot mode.

"I take it things didn't go as planned?" deadpanned the blue fembot upon seeing the statue.

"No time for sarcasm Arcee, right now, that statue may be our best means of locating the harvester," countered the CMO.

"Exactly what happened?" asked Arcee to the kids.

"Large Con bird busted in and took the orb before we could even touch it!" explained Miko.

"Sounds like something of Soundwave's," pondered Bulkhead.

"Bulkhead," said Ratchet, "Pick up that statue and place on my laboratory table."

"Sure," agreed the green bot.

Suddenly, a beeping sound was heard, and everyone looked up and saw Optimus' face next to a large blip in the screen.

"Optimus and the others must be ready to return," pondered Ratchet as he walked towards the panel and pulled the lever. He looked over at the green bot and said, "Bulkhead, please get the statue to my lab table?"

Bulkhead as he walked to where the kids and the statue were. He tried picking the latter up as gently as he could, and managed to hold it for about a minute before he dropped the statue. As it hit the floor, the stone figure broke into several pieces.

"Bulkhead I _needed _that!" exclaimed an angry Ratchet.

"Needed what?" asked Optimus, coming through the portal along with Bumblebee and Cap.

"That former statue that Bulkhead just dropped!" growled the CMO, pointing the dust and pieces of the stone figure.

"Wait! Look!" yelled Jack, pointing to the pile. Everyone watched in curiosity as something very peculiar happened. From the remains of the stone, an orange-pink mist of sorts began to make its way out and gather together. The steam soon started to take a human-like shape, and as the seconds grew on, the shape became more curvy and feminine. Before long, the haze became more solid, and before anyone could even guess what was going on, a new figure stood in the room. A woman with black hair, fair skin, fairly toned muscles, a height between six-five and six-seven, and ancient armor that looked almost new. On her forearms were silver bands that reflected like chrome-steel, her main body was adorned with a red breastplate and back plate that left her shoulders open, a blue skirt made of leather strips that went down to just above her knees, and her feet were protected by red grieves with silver highlights. On her chest was a golden emblem that bore the shape of a flying eagle, ready to catch its prey. To her sides, the woman held a bronze shield in one hand, a sword in the other, and a glowing yellow rope was on her right hip. Her face seemed quite graceful and full of beauty.

The Bots and humans stood in awe of what just transpired before them, each uncertain what to think.

Opening her eyes, revealing them to be greyish blue, the woman looked around. Upon seeing Cap, she took on a fierce gaze and brought her sword and shield up in front of her, running at the super-soldier with her weapon ready to strike. The WWII hero brought his own shield up in time to block the blade, causing it to bounce both the sword and its bearer back a few feet, with the woman's own feet skidding on the ground. She charged again, only to be blocked by a giant mechanical hand. Looking up, Cap and the woman saw that the hand belonged to Optimus, who appeared as confused about the new turn of events as everyone else was.

"That is enough!" stated Prime, "You are no doubt confused about why you are here, and we are as well, but that is no reason for you to attack any of us!"

"Who are you to say what I can and cannot do?! Monster!" she countered fiercely.

"Wait-wait-wait!" said Jack, saying his own bit to calm the woman down, "You don't know what's going on and neither do we. But perhaps it might help clear things up if we knew who you are?"

Backing away from Cap, the woman put her sword in her skirt and declared, "I am Diana of Themyscira, daughter to Queen Hippolyta and princess of the Amazon nation!"

"Whoa, an _Amazon_?!" asked Miko.

"I thought those women were just a myth," said Raf as he started to look up the term Amazon while trying to avoid mention of the website with the same name.

"As you can see, I am very much real!" said the self-proclaimed princess.

"How did you end up in that statue?" asked Jack, pointing towards the remains of Diana's imprisonment.

"That is…a long story." she said uncertainly.

"Hold up!" interrupted Miko, "If you're an Amazon, how come you can speak English?"

Patting the glowing rope at her side, Diana answered, "The lasso of Hephaestus makes one speak the truth, and it goes beyond the boundaries of language."

"Heph-who?" asked the confused fourteen-year-old girl.

"Hephaestus was the blacksmith of the Greek gods, Miko," explained Raf.

"Hera ordered him to make this lasso and this armor I wear for my mother, though she rarely ever used it, and at the time I was imprisoned in stone, I had a need for it. So I took it for myself."

"You stole from your mother?" asked Jack.

Looking away briefly and showing some signs of regret, Diana answered, "Yes, though that is not the only reason for my imprisonment."

"What happened?" asked Arcee.

Sighing, the Amazon princess began, "The Amazons are a nation that believes in the superiority of women, and as such, they strove to keep men out of their society. Though occasionally, we will mate with men so that we can have future generations of Amazon sisters and daughters. Any man-child that is born of us is to be killed."

Jack and Raf gulped at that, while Cap narrowed his eyes at the princess and showed signs of disgust at what she said.

"Then," she continued, "it was my turn. Even though I was the Princess, I still had to play my part in creating the next generation of Amazons. The man I mated with was quite smaller than I was, but he was good enough to get me pregnant. Though, it turned out that my child was…"

"A boy?" asked Jack, finishing the sentence for her.

"Yes, and by the laws of the Amazons, he would automatically have been to be put to death."

"Just because he was a boy?" asked Miko, with more than a hint of disgust in her voice. All five of the Autobots bore a look that shared her feeling.

"Yes, and I was required to do it as well, but there was a problem," she added solemnly.

"What?" asked Optimus, contempt in voice from what he had heard previously.

"I could not bring myself to kill him," she said, looking like she was on the verge of tears, "Seeing him lying there, so helpless, and the fact that he was _my own_ son made me realize that…I would not kill him." Tears began to stream down her face, framing her mouth.

Around the room, the looks of disgust turned to ones of sympathy.

"But I knew that he would not survive if he remained on Themyscira, so I hid him in my room and waited until nightfall. Stealing my mother's armor, I left with my son and journeyed to the land of the Greeks. There, I found a farming family who took my son in as one of their own."

"Sounds like you did right by him," said Arcee with much approval in her voice.

"It was the best I could do for him at the time, but my actions were not unnoticed by Hera."

"I take it that she wasn't too happy with what you did?" asked Raf, "The stories always depict her as a vengeful goddess."

"That she was, and by saving my son from death, I broke Amazon law. Since Hera is our patron goddess, that meant that our obeyed laws were in her name, and by not killing my child, I defied her."

"Why would you worship a goddess who promotes the slaughter of newborns over something as trivial as gender?!" demanded an angry Ratchet.

"The high priestesses of Hera would often say that men are the embodiment of all that is evil, so a man-child would obviously grow up to be that as well. But when I saw how helpless my son was, I realized that he was no different from any of the women-children that we prized, and that killing him would be just as much an malevolent act as killing them."

"But Hera did not see things your way?" asked Optimus.

"No, she did not. Once I was sure that my son was safe, I made my journey back to Themyscira. And as I walked through the land of the Greeks, I found an abandoned valley, where I saw a large, golden sphere. I was curious as to what it could be, and thought that maybe it was a creation of Hephaestus. If it was, I could perhaps return it to him and he would give me sanctuary from Hera."

"The energon harvester…" muttered Ratchet under his breath, though Optimus heard and looked at the CMO before returning his attention to the Amazon princess.

"I started to pick the sphere up with what strength I could muster, but as soon as I did, my world went black and I fell asleep. The next thing I remember is waking up to find myself without the sphere and surrounded by all of you," she finished.

"That's quite a story," said Raf.

Looking at Jack, Diana said, "When you asked me how long I had been inside the stone, I realized that Hera's punishment must have been to turn me to stone until someone freed me by breaking it."

"That would be me," said Bulkhead, raising his hand.

"I thank you for it, Green One," appreciated the Amazon princess. Then she looked at Optimus before becoming serious, "Now that you know who I am, I wish for you to return the favor and tell me who _you_ are."

Optimus explained who the Autobots were to her as best he could in a manner that she could understand. After that, the human allies in the room did the explaining of where and when she was to her.

"I'm sorry to tell you this, Your Highness," said a nervous Raf, "but…the Amazons are gone."

"Gone?" asked the confused Diana.

"…they're all dead…" said Jack solemnly.

"What…?" she said in a mixture of disbelief and shock.

"If the myths are anything to go by…" said a tentative Raf, "then what you say happened over twenty-five hundred years ago. And the Amazons were wiped out in an attack by a Greek king acting under orders from Hera…I'm sorry…"

Everyone looked at Diana as her fists clenched. Her body began to shake before she pulled out her sword and shouted, "YOU ARE LYING!" Then she threw her sword at the console of the ground bridge terminal, piercing the machine and causing it to spark. "I cannot be the last of my Amazon sisters! They cannot be dead!"

Cap got in front of the kids in case the former stone princess decided to take her anger out on them. It was difficult to tell if she was going to start trying to kill everything she saw, or collapse into tears.

"Why... would Hera order that? We had _served_ her, _loyally_!"

A nervous Raf answered,"...the story goes that...one of Zeus' demigod children, Hercules...was someone that Hera tried to make suffer...and that she and a Greek king made him do twelve labors...one of which was to take the girdle of your mother, Hippolyta...and they made Hercules take it by force with an army..."

Diana clenched her hands, "It was all as an act of revenge…"

"And your mother and sisters paid the price…" Arcee said solemnly.

Then, the Amazon fell to her knees and placed her face in her hands, crying. Her sobs could be heard around the room, and no one said a word.

Cap, having been frozen in time himself, could understand sympathize with her dilemma. The main difference was that when she woke up, her nation was gone, while the U.S. was still around.

The second person who could feel for her the most was Jack, due to the loss of his father years prior, while Miko and Raf could only feel sorry for her, as they hadn't experienced loss.

The Autobots could understand her as well, as they had fought along comrades that died in battle all through the ages.

Diana looked up at Bulkhead and said, "Green one, you should have left me in stone..."

Suddenly, whilst the former Amazon Princess was tearfully taking everything in, Jack felt a small, but painful sting on the back of his neck.

"AH!" screamed the sixteen-year-old as he reached back and pulled off what appeared to be a two-inch big white spider. Tossing the eight-legged creature to the floor, Jack stepped away from it before Miko decided to squish it.

"I hate spiders!" screeched the foreign exchange girl.

"I think it's one of those spiders from Lexcorp," said Raf upon further examination.

"Whoa…" said Jack, getting everyone's attention. The other four humans and the five Autobots looked as the sixteen-year-old began to stumble back feeling woozy. Cap rushed over to help him steady himself.

"You alright Jack?" asked the Super-Soldier.

"…Yeah Steve…" he slurred, trying to stay awake.

"The spider must've had some kind of venom in it," reasoned Raf in concern for Jack.

"Arcee," said Cap, "hold him up," and he left the teenaged boy in the hands of the large fembot as he scooped up the remains of the spider into his shield, "His mother's a nurse, so she might know what type of anti-venom to use if she sees the spider."

"That makes sense," agreed Ratchet.

"I'll be right back," and Cap went to the restroom to change real quick.

* * *

11:55 PM

June Darby waited nervously in her living room as midnight approached, wondering where her son was. Hearing the sound of a motorcycle revving, the nurse looked out her window to see Steve and Jack on the latter's new blue bike, with the sixteen-year-old propped on her boyfriend's back as the soldier rode into the garage. Walking into that part of her house, the thirty-eight year-old nurse wanted answers as she saw Jack look very pale and sickly.

"Steve, what's going on with Jack? And why was he so late getting home?" demanded/questioned June.

"He was helping me get something," explained Steve, helping the unconscious teenager get into the house, "and he was bitten by a spider on the back of his neck."

"A spider bite?" June asked with worry as they made their way to Jack's bedroom and tucked him in. The widowed nurse began to rub her son's forehead to see if he had a fever.

Pulling out a folded cloth, Steve said, "This is what's left of the spider after one of his friends squished it."

The nurse tentatively reached out and took the cloth before looking in it to see what her boyfriend was talking about.

"I thought maybe you could identify it and get anti-venom to use on Jack."

"Good thinking Steve," said June as she reached up and gave her boyfriend a peck on the lips, "But I'd have to take this to the hospital in order to find out. And my shift ended a couple hours ago."

"Perhaps early in the morning?" asked the super soldier.

"Works for me," nodded the nurse as she rubbed her only son's head. Then she kissed the boy's cheek saying, "Goodnight Honey. Please be ok?"

* * *

9:36 AM

Jack began to stir before opening his eyes. Looking around, he found himself in bed with his clothes still on.

"What happened…?" asked the teen getting up and trying to remember the events of the previous night. He recalled failing to get the harvester from Lexcorp, then the revelation of a Greek myth being real with Diana, and finally being bitten by a spider from the aforementioned company before blacking out. "But how did I get home?" he wondered out loud.

Undressing and putting on some pajamas, Jack walked into the kitchen where he found a note waiting for him on the table. Picking it up, he read it.

_Dear Jack,_

_Steve brought you home last night and told me about the spider bite. He brought the spider's remains as well, so I went to the hospital early this morning to have it looked at so we can see of its venom can be treated. Since it's Saturday, you won't have to worry missing anything. In case you do wake up, I advise you to not exert yourself and take plenty of rest. But no leaving the house until I say you're well enough! I'll be home as quick as I can, so I'll see you soon._

_Love,_

_Mom_

_P.S. There's some cereal in the cupboard if you get hungry._

Putting it down, Jack walked over to the cupboard where he got out a bowl and box of Raisin Bran. Putting the bowl on the table, he opened the box and began pouring into the dish before stopping and putting the box down. However, as he released his grip on it, the box stayed in the palm of his hand.

"What…?" muttered the teen as he lifted his hand into the air and saw that the cereal box didn't get off him even then. He tried shaking it loose, only for what was left of the cereal inside to spread over the table and kitchen floor.

"Ugh!" he groaned with frustration before kicking the chair, which, to his shock, flew to the other side of the room before crashing into the wall before breaking into pieces. "Uh-oh!" exclaimed the stunned teen. And then the box finally fell from his hand onto the table, accidentally knocking the bowl with his breakfast over the table and shattering it upon impact with the floor.

Suddenly, the boy was taken out of his stupor by the sound of a revving bike engine. Running to the garage door, Jack saw that it was Arcee in her motorcycle form.

"What was that?" asked the disguised fembot.

"Oh, um, that was just…I had a little trouble with the table, putting breakfast together and all that," explained the sixteen-year-old, not wanting to let what really happened be known just yet.

"Really?" said the bike, with a hint of being unconvinced in her voice, "Well I hope you're feeling better now. You gave us quite a scare last night, second only to the princess anyway."

"Yeah, sorry about that, I didn't know that one of those spiders would tag along for the ride."

"Don't worry about it. You never know what you'll catch anywhere," reassured the fembot.

"Well, I better get back in and take a shower before going back to bed, Mom's orders and all that."

"Ok, just be careful about how you do things."

"Will do!" said Jack before going back in, leaving the fembot to wonder what was up with the boy. He seemed sick the night before, and now he looked healthy, but acted as though he was hiding something. Shaking her front light, Arcee decided that it was probably just a human thing.

Back inside, Jack was busy trying to clean up the mess he made with the chair and bowl as quickly and quietly as he could. His guardian Bot may not have pressed for the truth, but having gotten to know her for a week, the teenaged boy knew that she was nobody's fool. If she heard a lot of racket in the house, she would suspect something. He didn't want to even _think_ about what his mom would do if she found out about it. So the sixteen-year-old ran band-and-forth between the kitchen and the attic, hiding the broken pieces of the chair up there. His mom rarely, if ever, went upstairs, so it seemed like a perfect place to hide his mess. As he moved, though, he noticed that he was considerably faster and lighter on his feet than usual.

"This day just gets weirder and weirder," muttered teenaged boy.

After taking care of the chair situation, he threw away the bowl and ruined cereal before finding a box of Nature Valley Trail Mix Bars in the cupboard as well. Thinking it might be better than having messed up cereal, Jack ate a couple bars and a glass of milk.

* * *

10:15 PM

When about twenty minutes passed, the sixteen-year-old had had both his meal and his shower before putting on his regular attire of a short-sleeve-long-sleeve-tee combo, a pair of blue jeans, and white socks. Tying on his sneakers, the boy walked into the living room before sitting down on the recliner.

He saw the TV and thought that maybe some channel surfing might do him some good. Looking around for the remote, he spotted it right next to the screen. Sighing, Jack clenched his fist and was about to pound the armrest when he felt a rushing sensation in his wrist and heard a "thwip" sound. Turning to see his arm, he saw it being held up by wrist with a long silvery silk-like substance that stretched all the way to the ceiling. Gazing at the spot on the ceiling, he saw what appeared to be a large web keeping it up.

"Great!" growled Jack, "First the cereal box sticks to me, then I kick the chair into pieces and find out that I'm faster, lighter and stronger than before, and now I'm shooting…webbing out of my wrist?"

He would've pondered it further had it not been for the sound of his mom's car pulling into the garage. Panicking, the sixteen-year-old quickly jumped and pulled the web off the ceiling. Then he ran to the bathroom and washed out the webbing from his wrist and sleeve. Drying that part of his shirt, he swiftly made his way back to his bedroom and lay on the bed, waiting as he heard footsteps come his way. Taking a deep breath, the boy calmed himself and feeling it would go over better if he appeared relaxed. The door opened to reveal his mother walking into his room with her hospital bag, and seeming surprised at how well he appeared.

"Well, well, well, don't _you_ look good?" said June.

"What can I say? All I needed was a good night's rest," he replied smoothly.

"Good night's rest or not, I still need to check and see if you're alright," she stated as she sat next to him and placed her bag in front her.

"Honestly, Mom, I feel fine," he tried to reassure her, _'As fine as you can be when you find out that you're faster and stronger and can make webs and have things stick to you.'_

"And I'm glad to hear that, but I'll feel better about it when I see for myself," she said undeterred as she used the light that most doctors and nurses use when they examine a patient's eye. "Now say 'ah'."

"Ah…" went Jack as his mother placed a popsicle stick in his mouth before flashing the light in it as well.

After about a minute, June pulled the stick out and turned the light off before turning her son over to see the spot on his neck where he was bitten.

"Well, seems like the hickey your eight-legged friend left you has healed over."

"How did things work out with the anti-venom?" asked the teenaged boy, hoping that it might fix whatever happened to him.

June sighed, "Turns out that they didn't have one for the spider that bit you."

"Why?"

"Mostly because they couldn't identify what kind of spider it was."

"Really?" asked the confused teenager.

"Yeah, according to the doctors, it had the traits of _several_ different spiders!"

"Wow!" exclaimed the stunned teen, _'Was that spider an attempt by Lexcorp to mix the different spiders?'_

"You can say that again. And they said that in order to make new anti-venom for _that_ particular spider, then they would have to have a living one in order to make it."

"And since the one you showed them was dead, that meant they couldn't do squat in other words!" Jack deadpanned.

"Unfortunately, Honey. Though thankfully, from what little I've seen of you this morning, it looks like you wouldn't have needed one anyway," said June happily.

"Cool! So does that mean I can go out for today?"

Sighing, June answered, "Yes, but _only_ if you drive safely with your helmet, _and_ come home before curfew!"

"You got it!" said Jack practically jumping out of bed and headed for the garage door.

"And make sure you don't exert yourself!" she called out to him. Though, it's possible that her words fell on deaf ears as she heard the sound of a motorcycle revving and leaving before she could say anything else.

* * *

10:57 AM

After a long drive, Jack and Arcee made their way to the base, where the doors opened and allowed them in. Once they made it through the tunnel, the sixteen-year-old got off and the fembot transformed before walking towards the other Bots.

Giving the room a good look around, Jack saw Diana standing in the corner with arms crossed and looking despondent. The bags under her eyes gave off the hint that she hadn't slept all night.

Sighing, the teenaged boy walked up to her, feeling as though he should try to offer her some comfort. She may've been an Amazon, but still, she was the last of her people, and therefore had no one to go to anymore.

Lifting her gaze to him, Diana snapped, "What do you want?!"

"Nothing, just wanted to say that I'm very sorry for your loss," said Jack with sympathy in his voice, "What happened to you shouldn't happen to anyone."

Her gaze softened as she said, "I thank you, Man-Child, and yes, what has occurred is not something I would wish upon even my worst enemy."

Then a thought occurred to Jack, "You said that you left your son with a farming family?"

"Yes, though I doubt he would have survived to this day if _that_ is what you are getting at."

"No, what I mean is, is it possible that your son had children of his own?"

Lifting her hand to her chin, Diana pondered his words before responding, "Yes…that is likely…"

"So maybe those kids had children of their own, and that perhaps he had descendants in this time. And that would make them your descendants too, so you might still have family. Not the Amazon kind, but still, family," the boy reasoned.

When a couple moments passed, realization dawned upon the tall woman's face, "You are right!" Then she did the unexpected and embraced Jack in a near bone-crushing hug, lifting him off the ground.

"Ugh!" he groaned for breath as he felt pressure on his chest and his oxygen began to fade from the tightness of the ancient woman's grip.

Diana ignored it and said happily, "Thank you, Man-Child. You have given me a new sense of hope, and for that, I am in your debt."

"Don't mention it!" he breathed, "And please call me Jack!"

Letting him go, the Amazon Princess placed her hands on his shoulders and said, "Take care, Jack, and may fate smile on you." And she let him go before walking towards the tunnel.

"Where're you going?" asked Miko, as she and everyone else watched the woman walk out.

"If there is a chance that my son had children, then it is possible I still have family. Now, I go to seek them out!"

"Wait!" yelled Ratchet.

"Whatever for?" asked the former princess.

"If you're going to start looking for relatives, then try looking in the place where you'd be likely to find them." Then he typed in the coordinates of the Greek dig site and pulled the lever on the ground bride and brought it to life. Looking back at her, he said, "This should take you to the valley where you and the harvester were excavated from. Perhaps you could start there."

"Thank you," she nodded before gazing at everyone and saying, "Thank you all for this. Perhaps someday we will meet again. Until then, may the fates smile on all of you!" With that, she journey through the vortex and disappeared.

"You think she'll be alright?" asked Raf.

"Ah, don't worry Raf. She's a big girl, she can take care of herself," assured Miko.

"I certainly hope so," said Jack. Then he looked at his wrists and thought to himself, _'First robots from another planet, then superheroes and a wondrous woman from the past, and now I'm part spider? What's next?'_

It wouldn't be long before he found his answer…

* * *

**AN: Well, that's the fourth chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it. Sorry it took me so long to write it, but I've been busy being beaten with homework, school and preparing for the finals.**

**To clarify something for everyone, this story is an AU, pure and simple. Fanfics are by their very nature AUs and reimaginings.**

**And for those of you who thought that Spider-Man was Jack's dad, you were sorely mistaken. Why didn't you consider somebody like Ben Parker? He's the reason Spidey does his whole "With great power comes great responsibility gig". Anyway, Jack is Spider-Man in this fic, and we'll see him start his career soon.**

**As you can see, this utilizes elements from both Deus Ex Machina and Masters and Students. The resolution to which we'll see in the next chapter when I get to it.**

**And about Diana's new background, I felt that this would make her come off as more sympathetic as opposed to how she's portrayed nowadays. By that, I find her whole Anti-Male attitude to be both annoying and condescending. This way, she's a bit more relatable in that she's experienced loss, and is now looking for family. I had her leave because I refuse to write a bunch of fish-out-of-water scenes. But don't worry, we will see her again.**

**As usual, read and review with constructive criticism and PM me with any ideas or questions you might have.**


	5. Sling and Slashing in Las Vegas

11:43 AM

Jack sat with his two human friends while they watched Ratchet pull up the footage of what Cap, Optimus and Bumblebee were doing while two teens and preteen went after the Energon Harvester. Presently, the Super Soldier and all the Bots, except for Ratchet, were out searching for the said object.

It was only a couple hours ago that everyone witnessed the former Amazon Princess Diana leave base, and before that, Jack's discovery of his new "gift"; which consisted of being much faster, stronger, more agile, and being able to stick to walls and shoot webbing out of his wrists. He didn't tell anyone because he felt it was his responsibility to handle and no one else's. That and he wasn't quite sure how to say it. How exactly does one tell their friends that they can now do whatever a spider can? Perhaps someday he would tell them, but not anytime soon.

"While the others are out, I suppose it would be best to see what the other half of our team was doing," said Ratchet as the screen began to show the film.

What first appeared was the inside of a canyon during the mid-to-late afternoon. Then Bumblebee's familiar beeps and whirs were heard before the camera turned to look up and see Optimus with the yellow scout beside him.

"_No, Bumblebee, it does not. You and the Captain must hold your positions, and await my command." _ordered Prime as he moved forward into the canyon.

The camera view wobbled slightly as Bumblebee and Cap followed close behind. The trio moved slowly and quietly through the canyon for several minutes before the sounds of arguing could be heard. Optimus moved forward, surprisingly silent for one his size, with Cap and Bee following. The three took cover behind some boulders before peeking out...

They saw the voices belonged to Starscream and a tall and robust green and white robot that looked like he had jet wings on his back. The green and white one was looking down on the skinny Con with contempt as he stood there with Soundwave behind him and listening. Obviously, the Decepticon Second in Command had done something to anger the robot, as he was leaning back with a cowardly expression on his face.

Optimus stood and walked out from cover, interrupting the conversation, "It has been a while Skyquake." he noted.

The green robot, obviously Skyquake, and the two Cons looked in Optimus' direction with surprise. Skyquake shoved Starscream to the side before answering, ignoring the Con's indignant protests.

"_Optimus Prime,"_ answered the green one, _"I haven't seen you since the battle of Technahar. Megatron ordered me to annihilate you…"_ he said ominously.

"_That was a long time ago,"_ said Prime as he moved toward Skyquake.

"_That may be, Prime, but my orders still stand!"_ he said strongly.

"He's quite the loyal soldier," commented Jack, with Miko and Raf nodding in agreement.

"_Is this ancient war still worth fighting?"_ reasoned Optimus, "When so many comrades have been lost?! And worlds destroyed?!" Pointing at the Decepticon Second in Command, Prime stated, _"If you want to be a true leader, Starscream, then stray from Megatron's path, and lead the Decepticons toward peace!"_

Putting his hand on his hip, Starscream gave a smug expression and answered, _"I would be willing to consider a truce…if_ you _would be willing to_ bow _before me, Optimus Prime."_

"_Again?!"_ roared an angry Skyquake, _"Bow to this!"_ he stated as he punched Starscream in the gut, launching the skinny flier towards the canyon wall. Groaning as he got up, the Con transformed and flew away from sight, Soundwave following suit.

"_Skyquake,"_ said Optimus, _"this is a new era, on another world! Side with the Autobots and help me end this conflict forever!"_

"_I will NEVER side with a Prime!"_ shouted Skyquake.

"Whoa! Hold up!" said Jack, and Ratchet paused the video.

"What?" asked the CMO.

"What does he mean about Optimus being _a_ Prime?"

"Yeah," pitched in Miko, "is there more than one?"

"No," countered the medic, "But the title of Prime is an honor that was passed on to Optimus not long before the war started all those millennia ago."

"So you're saying that Optimus wasn't always a Prime?" asked Jack.

"On Cybertron," explained Ratchet, "one isn't _born_ into greatness; rather, one must _earn_ it."

"W-What did Optimus do to become a Prime?" asked Raf.

Pondering for a moment, the CMO answered, "Well, to be frank Rafael, he wasn't always Optimus either. He was once a clerk, in the Iacon Hall of Records, named Orion Pax."

"So he used to be a librarian, in other words," understood Miko.

"Yes, and he studied under the master archivist, Alpha Trion himself." Remember something, Ratchet continued, "And he also courted a special femme named Ariel, who in many respects could've been considered his opposite. She was playful and he was serious half the time."

"Courting?" interrupted Miko.

"What's a femme?" added Jack.

Before Ratchet could fume at the two teens, Raf answered for him, "Courting is the old term for dating, Miko." Then he looked back at the CMO and asked, "And I'm guessing that a femme is a female Cybertronian?"

Sighing, the medic continued, "Yes, thank you Rafael. And in case you're wondering, a mech is a male Cybertronian. Anyway, as Orion worked his job in the Hall of Records and learned more about Cyberton's past, he became increasingly concerned about the corruption in high places. Because of the caste system put in place by the then-current Prime, Sentinel, there was an inequality among the masses."

"Inequality?" asked Miko.

"Yes," continued the CMO, "as everyone was more or less born into their occupation and had no say in the matter. As you might imagine, this didn't sit well with everyone." The kids nodded in agreement as the medic went on with his story, "One Cybertronian in particular was very vocal about his objections, and he inspired many others to his ideals, including Orion. This Cybertronian was a gladiator-turned-revolutionary who named himself after one of the past Primes, Megatronus."

None of the kids said anything, but they could tell that they were each thinking the same thing, _'Megatron.'_

"He vowed to challenge Cyberton's leadership, and demand that all Cybertronians be treated equally. As a result of his speeches and acts of defiance, Megatronus gained a loyal following, Soundwave chief among them. Orion began corresponding with the revolutionary, who came to be something of a mentor to him. Then, sometime later, Sentinel Prime disappeared and turned up dead."

"Wow!" said a surprised Miko, and the two boys beside her nodded in agreement.

"When that happened, Megatronus shortened his name and left the gladiatorial arena for the political. Before long, Megatron appeared before the High Council to take advantage of Sentinel's death, and propose his vision of a just society, and it was here that he began to reveal his true colors; threatening the need to overthrow the old guard with force, and arrogantly demanding to be the next Prime."

"I doubt that worked." added Jack.

"Correct," agreed Ratchet, "But Orion did not believe in violence as a means of attaining peace. When he gave his own say on the matter, the sparks and minds of all the Council alike were moved by Orion's words. Here, for the first time since Cybertron's Golden Age, stood someone worthy of being a Prime. But that honor could only be truly achieved by earning the legendary Matrix of Leadership."

"What's that?" asked Miko.

"The Matrix is a container for the collective wisdom of the Primes, past and present," explained Ratchet, "It presents itself to a bearer, who then becomes a Prime and carries it within themselves."

"And Megatron obviously didn't get chosen?" inquired Jack.

"Indeed Jack, and because his ambitions were thwarted, Megatron spitefully severed all ties with Orion and the Council, and came to wage war on all who opposed him through his growing army of followers."

"The Decepticons?" asked Raf.

"Precisely, Rafael, and it wasn't long before the war broke out and ravaged Cybertron. Poisoning it to its very core, if you will, which is why our home world is now uninhabitable for any life form, Cybertronian or organic."

"But didn't you guys try to fix it?" questioned Miko.

"Of course we did. Orion and Ariel journeyed to the core in hopes of reversing the damage, but they found two things. One was that the core had shut down, and another was the Matrix of Leadership. It bestowed itself on the surprised Orion, and from that moment on, he became known as Optimus, the last of the Primes. Ariel was also affected by the Matrix, and was granted a small shard of its wisdom before becoming Elita-1."

"Talk about a Prime couple," quipped Miko, "Though how come we don't see her around?"

Ratchet gave a soulful look before answering, "She…disappeared."

"What?" asked all three of the kids in unison.

"While on a mission, Elita-1 and an entire squadron of Autobots were sent to a planet under Decepticon control. Unfortunately, not long after they got there, they were ambushed and an energon explosion occurred, taking half the planet with it. We presumed them dead, though Optimus maintains hope that he'll find Elita again due to the fact that her body was never found."

"So it's possible that she's still alive?" Jack pointed out.

"It's possible, but very unlikely," stated the CMO, before turning back to the terminal and grumbling, "Now, perhaps we can watch the rest of this!"

With that, the video resumed and Skyquake roared as he charged at Optimus. Upon reaching the Prime, the green warrior gave a left cross across his chest, sending the Autobot leader flat against the canyon wall. Walking over to Optimus, the winged warrior picked him up and threw him to the other side.

The camera looked up at Bumblebee and Cap said, _"This doesn't look good."_

The yellow scout nodded and whirred in agreement.

Looking back at the battle scene, the camera showed the Prime and Skyquake standing across from each other. Then Optimus transformed his hand into a blaster and shot at his opponent without doing much damage. Skyquake retaliated by pulling out what appeared to be a large rotary canon and proceeded to fire at the Prime. Each of the bullets bounced off the Autobot leader, but they were still strong enough to knock him back a little with every hit.

Unwilling to stand back any longer, the yellow scout whirred with frustration and got out from his hiding place before charging at Skyquake.

"_Bumblebee, no!"_ ordered Optimus to no avail, as the scout jumped in the air before shooting at the green warrior in the back. The winged one turned around and proceeded to shoot at Bumblebee, who kept bouncing off the canyon walls towards Optimus. The camera stayed low before showing Cap's arm throwing his shield at Skyquake's head, knocking the warrior off balance for a second as Cap rejoined with the Prime and the scout. Once the red, white, and blue shield bounced back to its owner, Optimus, Bumblebee and Cap all converged on Skyquake. The green warrior punched the Prime to the side before tossing the yellow scout over him. After which, the camera showed red gloved hands climbing up the giant's green leg, back, and then going around to his face.

"_What're you-?"_ started Skyquake before a red fist smashed through his right optic. The camera jumped off and landed in Optimus' hand as the green warrior roared in pain. Cap facing him, the green Con shouted, _"I will make you pay for that, Organic!"_

Getting off the Prime's hand, the American super soldier retorted, _"Then come and get me!"_ The two Bots beside him transformed into their vehicular modes and Cap got in Bumblebee's car before they all drove off.

"_Cowards!"_ shouted an accusing Skyquake, and the super soldier looking in Bumblebee's rearview mirror to see the green Con transform into what was apparently a Cybertronian jet. The alien flier zoomed into the air before firing down on them some more. The two Bots kept narrowly avoiding the shots, but it seemed as though they might not last much longer.

"_Where's a friendly flier when you need one?!"_ shouted an angry Cap.

"_Why didn't you just say so?"_ said an unseen, but familiar voice.

"Iron Man?" asked all three of the kids together. Ratchet's only response was muttering unintelligible curses.

"_Tony, wasn't expecting to hear from you today."_

"_Well, when your suits get destroyed by a group of alien robots who seem to like making all kinds of activity in one area, you tend to pay attention. Looks like you could use a hand with the jolly green jet here."_

After a shot from Skyquake nearly shot through Bumblebee's side window, Cap said, _"It wouldn't hurt my feelings any if you did!"_

"_Copy that."_

Bee and Optimus rolled to a stop, letting Cap out. The two transformed and looked up to see the aerial battle between Iron Man and Skyquake.

The flying Con twisted in midair, diving back down on the billionaire and opening fire with his blasters. Tony responded with a barrage of missiles that exploded around Skyquake, forcing him to dive to the side out of the way. The superhero began flying after him in pursuit, firing off a blast from his repulsor blasters. Skyquake rolled to the side with each blast.

He deployed his flaps and shot back before resuming his fire on Iron Man; though his shots were less than precise as he had to dodge both Iron Man's repulsors and Optimus and Bumblebee's blasters.

Wanting to bring the battle to a close, the armored billionaire managed to latch onto the back of Skyquake's alt mode near the cockpit. Struggling to hold on, Tony's chest flared a bright white and blue with a low hum accompanying it. A large beam of energy exploded out from his chest, leaving a large smoking hole in Skyquake's chassis.

Smoke spewed from the wound, and Ironman leapt off him, watching as Skyquake plummeted to his doom. When Skyquake crashed, it wasn't until Optimus and the others walked up to him that the warrior finally gave in to death's grip.

Pulling back his facemask, Optimus said solemnly, "Had Skyquake not chosen to follow his master's path, we might not be burying him today."

Iron Man landed next to them and his mask slid open, "Um... isn't he technically a bad guy?"

Looking down at the armored playboy, the Prime replied, "While it is true that Skyquake fought as our adversary, the same can also be said about enemies showing respect to one another."

Tony looked at the smoking corpse, "If you say so."

With that, the video then stopped. Apparently there was nothing more to see. Ratchet then went back to checking in with communications to see if anyone had news on the harvester's whereabouts.

"I'd say my favorite part is where Iron Man blasted a hole in that overgrown Con," said Miko, talking as though she'd just seen a movie.

Jack sighed, but before he could say anything, the familiar beeping of the communications system was heard on the computer.

"Optimus?" asked the CMO after pressing the button.

"Ratchet," responded the Prime urgently, "bridge us back, and prepare for a patient. The harvester has been destroyed, but Bulkhead has lost a lot of energon."

"Understood, preparing the ground bridge," then the medic typed in the coordinates and pulled the terminal's lever. The green vortex lit up, and before long, the forms of Optimus, Cap, Bumblebee, and Arcee came through. The Prime and the scout carried the green Bot with his arms over their shoulders, while the blue femme walked beside the super soldier before going off to her quarters. While the three mechs carried Bulkhead to Ratchet's laboratory, Cap came up to the kids to see how they were.

"So, you three give Ratchet any grief?" he teased while taking off his cowl.

"Eh, no more than usual," said Miko dismissively.

"But we did learn a great bit," added Raf.

"Oh?" the super-soldier quirked an eyebrow.

"While Ratchet was showing us the video of your fight with Skyquake," explained Jack, "he mentioned how Optimus became a Prime and that he's…" Jack looked over at the laboratory and saw that the former librarian wasn't listening in on them, then leaned in and whispered, "…how he's potentially a widower."

"Oh, that. Well, it's best to not mention it around Optimus."

"I know," said Jack, "that sort of thing is a touchy subject for anyone." And the teenager could relate, as he had dealt with loss himself. Though unlike the Prime, there was no chance that his loved one could return.

The four humans were interrupted from their conversation when the computer screen lit up to reveal the face of Nick Fury.

"Telling the kids to behave?" asked the S.H.I.E.L.D. director.

"They're doing fine, Sir. You here with a mission, Director?" asked the World War Two veteran.

"I am, though I'd like it if you were the only one in the room when I give it," he said, looking at the three kids.

"Oh come on!" whined Miko.

It was at that moment that Jack spoke, "Say, um, Miko, don't you wanna see how Bulkhead's doing?"

"Ok…" said the fourteen-year-old Japanese girl in defeat. Then the three of them walked out of the main area as the super soldier and the S.H.I.E.L.D. director talked business.

* * *

1:32 pm

About an hour later, the kids and Bots walked back into the operations room where they found Cap in his civilian attire, consisting of a camouflage shirt, khaki pants, black combat boots, and a brown leather jacket.

"What's up Steve?" asked Jack.

"Got a mission in Vegas that requires my particular touch," explained the soldier. Then he looked up at Ratchet and asked, "You mind bridging me there, Doc?"

The CMO nodded and typed in the coordinates before pulling the lever and lighting up the familiar vortex.

As the Bots walked to different parts of the base, Miko excitedly, "Did you say Vegas? I've always wanted to see that place!"

"Sorry Miko," said Steve sternly, "but this is a mission, not a sight-seeing trip."

"Ok," she said innocently.

'_She's up to something…'_ thought Jack.

Then as Steve went through the ground bridge portal, Jack's suspicions were confirmed as the Japanese exchange student made a bolt for it.

"Miko!" he shouted while running after her. Unfortunately, despite his newfound speed, by the time he caught up to her it was too late. They had gone through the portal and were now in a Las Vegas alleyway. Before either of them knew it, the vortex closed behind them.

"This. Is. So. AWESOME!" shouted the hyperactive fourteen-year-old.

"You're crazy!" stated Jack.

"Oh come on!" she countered, "We're in the Entertainment Capital of the World, Jack. There're loads of things we can do here."

"The only thing I'm interested in is getting the two of us back to base!" he argued. Then he reached into his pocket only to find that his cellphone wasn't there, "Great, no phone!" he grumbled before looking at his friend, "Hey Miko, you got yours?"

Feeling around in her pockets, the Japanese girl shook her head, "Tough luck, Jack. Guess we're here for a while," she said shrugging.

The sixteen-year-old boy sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Perhaps we can find Steve and have him contact the base for us," he thought aloud.

"Good excuse to go sightseeing for me!" said Miko as she grabbed Jack by the arm and dragged him to the busy street.

"Miko…!" groaned Jack, before looking about the crowds of people and asking out loud, "Now if you were a ninety-plus-year-old super-soldier from World War Two on a mission in Las Vegas, where would you be?"

"Probably be partying at a casino."

"No, that's what you'd do."

"No, I mean I see him walking into one now! Over there!" she pointed.

Jack followed her gaze, and found that Steve was indeed walking into the Planet Hollywood hotel.

"Well I'll be." said the boy in amazement, and then pulled Miko along as they walked to the front of the establishment before walking inside. Once in, they stared in bewilderment at the lobby; everywhere they looked, the walls were shiny and the floors were sleek. There were lights galore everywhere as well everywhere they looked.

Jack took gazed around until he saw the receptionists' desk. Pulling Miko along, the two made their way there where they were greeted by a blonde woman who looked to be in her late twenties.

"Hi, and welcome to Planet Hollywood," said the woman in a put-on happy voice, "Do you two have a parent or guardian present with you?"

"Uh-Yes," said Jack, thinking quickly, "Our…uncle came in before us, and we were wondering if maybe you'd seen him?"

"Yeah," said Miko playing along for once, "Tall guy, blonde hair and blue eyes, wearing a brown jacket?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact I did see a man fitting that description come in here a minute ago. He said he wasn't planning on staying, just to see an upcoming show and play cards."

"You mind telling us where we can find him?" asked the sixteen-year-old.

"He said he would be down in the casino where the card tables are. Here's a map," she said while handing Jack a pamphlet.

"Thanks Ma'am, have a nice day," said Jack as he and Miko walked away.

* * *

2:06 PM

It took several minutes, and Jack telling his Japanese friend to focus, but the two finally managed to find the card tables in the large hotel/casino. Problem was, they were still having trouble finding their target in the large crowd of gamblers.

"He's got to be around here somewhere," mumbled the frustrated teen boy.

"Jack? Miko?" said a familiar voice behind the two teenagers.

Startled, the two turned around to see Steve right behind them, with his arms crossed and a disapproving expression adorning his face.

"What're you doing here?" he asked sternly.

"We-we-um…" started Jack, only to be interrupted by his companion.

"I wanted to see Vegas," admitted the Japanese girl like it was no big deal, "but Mr. Party-Pooper here," she looked at Jack agitatedly, "decided to try and stop me and ended up coming along."

"And we…left our phones back at the base…so we can't call to get bridged back" added Jack sheepishly.

The super soldier sighed, "Kids, this is really not the best time to be doing this. I'm on a mission here, and I can't let you two get in the way. So I'll call Optimus and the others and have them bridge you back as soon as possible."

"Thanks, and sorry about this Steve-" Jack said before the sound of guns going off got everyone's attention. They turned around to see everyone panicking and running before another few shots were fired. Then all the people in the room turned their attention to the center, where a group of seven individuals of similar height were dressed from head-to-toe in all black and were each holding a large plastic bag in one hand, and a handgun in the other; six robust men and one tall woman. The leader of the group, the woman, held out a megaphone.

"Listen up, Idiots!" said the woman in a British Accent, "for the next half hour, my co-workers and I are in charge of the place! And if you wish to leave for home in one piece, I suggest you all do exactly as we say! Is that understood?"

Everyone nodded and held up their hands in surrender.

"Good, now the gents and ladies will pull out their wallets and empty them into the bags belonging to my companions, along with anything else of value you may possess. That means rings, necklaces and earrings!"

Jack saw the goons walk about the room, doing as the woman said. The teenager thought to himself, _'Where's a hero when you need one? I know Steve is Captain America, but he can't do anything without exposing himself.'_ Then he thought, _'Maybe _I_ could do something…'_ as he remembered his new abilities from earlier this morning. Though he also knew that he since he got them just this morning, he had little to no knowledge on how to use them. Still, somebody had to do something.

With that in mind, the sixteen-year-old used his speed to quietly sneak into the backrooms, which was relatively easy considering the large crowd of people in the place. That and the fact that he was so lanky to begin with made very little difficulty in getting to his destination. Once there, Jack found himself in what appeared to be a large dressing room, with mirrors, makeup and costumes galore.

"Ok, Jack," he whispered to himself, "let's think this through. You're going out there to fight a bunch of professional thieves who are stealing from everybody at gunpoint. Aside from a couple scrapes with Vince…you don't know how to fight…and you don't know how connected these people are, so it might be best to wear a disguise of some sort…but what to use…?" He looked around and a couple items caught his attention; specifically a pair of black leather gloves and an all-red mask with teardrop-shaped eyeholes. "That'll do," he said before taking his shirts off and putting his short-sleeve tee on and then putting the long-sleeve one on over that. Then he took the mask and gloves and put them on as he opened the door to see that the thieves were all still collecting their loot.

Sneaking his way to a dark corner of the room, Jack remembered how the cereal box had stuck to him that morning. Once he reached the spot, he placed his hands on the wall and started to slowly climb up, _'Guess sticking to stuff has its perks after all,'_ he thought as he got higher. As he approached the top, the masked sixteen-year-old heard the female leader of the thieves make another announcement with her megaphone.

"Well done everyone, you're all cooperating very nicely. Though it's almost a pity that this was too easy, or I might have a sense of satisfaction."

'_We'll see about that…'_ thought Jack as he pulled his sleeves back to see his wrists. On each was a small hole with what appeared to be veins around them. He figured that if he could get the webbing to come out by accident, then maybe he could do it on purpose. Aiming his hand at a nearby wall, the boy remembered how it was released when he clenched his hand. Not wanting to tempt fate, the masked teen tried with his middle and ring fingers and he felt a line of webbing shoot at the wall, _'Perfect!'_ he thought. The feeling of it could be described as a rush of energy and release. Then he moved his way up to where the way met the ceiling, but tried hard to remain in the shadows.

Next, he extended his arms in the direction of two of the henchmen before shooting lines of webbing at their guns. After that, he quickly yanked the firearms out of their hands and webbed them to the ceiling before moving to another spot to avoid detection.

"What the bloody Hell was that?!" shouted one of the goons with a cockney accent.

"Don't know. Something just yanked it out of me hand!" yelled another.

"Maybe we should-ahh!" screamed one as he suddenly felt himself being pulled off the ground by some kind of line. Then he found himself being webbed to the ceiling as well as feeling a sticky substance muffling his attempts to talk.

"Ahh!" howled another goon as he suffered the same fate. Then, one by one, all six of the thugs were webbed to the ceiling and silenced with the substance. Only their leader remained on the ground with the gun and megaphone in her hand.

"You know, I was actually counting some hero to try and stop us," she said into the loudspeaker, "because now it gives me a chance to do this." As if on cue, she unloaded the entire clip in her gun into the ceiling right above her. Then she pulled off her mask to reveal that not only was she a long-haired redhead, but also that her face wasn't normal. It was covered in golden fur, with black lines coming down from her tear ducts and framing her mouth, which had black lips that, when snarled, showed off sharp teeth. Her eyes were brownish-gold, and seemed to pierce anyone who dared to look at them with fear. Removing her gloves and boots, she showed that, while still having human-like hands and feet, they were now clawed and had golden fur on those as well. Small but noticeable spots adorned her cheeks, hands and feet. Once she had revealed all that, the cheetah woman showed one more surprise when a long tail escaped her pants.

As soon as the exposition was over, the feline lady shocked everyone by jumping all the way up to the ceiling in one leap. Once she reached there, she made sure to dig her claws into the roof and soon began a search for her prey. Jack made a sudden movement, but it was enough to catch the cat lady's attention, and she clawed her way towards him with surprising speed.

She shot forward blinding fast, her claws extended ready to kill. It was at that moment that Jack felt an odd sensation-a tingling sensation at the base of his skull. It felt as though a group of ants were crawling around the base of his skull. But at the same time, it felt like he was being urged to move away. Heeding the tingling sensation's advice, he darted under the blow, the claws passing by overhead in slow motion.

This avoidance caused the cheetah woman to kick her foot into the wall and smash off a few bits of debris. She swung at him again, this time with her claws, and again, the disguised teen felt the sensation go off in his head that made him dodge. Only when he did that, the cheetah woman managed to grab him by the arm and pull him into a free fall before he could get any hold of the wall again. Once they hit the floor, the crowd had divided with some staying to see the fight, and others leaving through the main doors.

The two opponents got to their feet, and Jack rubbed his head before the tingling sensation occurred again. He moved in time to avoid another slash attack from the cheetah lady, and then he took the opportunity to swing a hit of his own on her. The masked teen's fist backhanded the feline woman in the side, and sent her flying towards the other side of the room where she crashed into a slot machine.

"Whoa, sorry-" he didn't get to finish as the cheetah lady got back up and picked up the damaged money maker before throwing it at him. Jack felt the sensation in his head again as he jumped and flipped over the incoming object. Landing gracefully, the teen looked up to see the lady standing there, stunned by what she just witnessed.

"You know, for someone who clearly has no sense of style or experience fighting, you're pretty good at this," she complimented him, making the teen boy feel confused as well as blush.

"Um…thanks…I think-!" he said before being cut off by the feline lady pinning him down by the wrists. Her legs straddled his waist as she looked down on him with a malicious grin. Taking a good look at his position, Jack realized that had this lady been more normal and not trying to kill him, he might've found his predicament with her to be quite arousing.

"But you're still an amateur!" she said, licking her lips, "Perhaps with a little training and experience, you'd make an excellent fighter. Unfortunately, there are some people I have to impress, so I'm afraid that I have to kill you."

Before Jack could ask what she meant, the cheetah lady released one of his wrists and positioned her claws right above his heart area. Taking his chance, the masked teen shot some webbing at her face, causing her to look away from him, and then he proceeded to kick her off of him. She landed on her back, but before she could get up, Jack used his webs to quickly make her stuck to the floor.

"That should hold you till the cops come," he said. Then he looked to see Steve and Miko staring at him in amazement. The latter of the two looked like she was about to jump out of her skin with excitement and the former just gave an approving grin. Realizing that he needed to change back real quick, he shot a line of web up above their heads, distracting the two by making their heads look away, and then he made a bolt for the other hallway where he snuck into the men's room.

Once there, he made sure to hide in one of the stalls and put the gloves and mask in his pocket before changing his shirts back in their originally order with the short-sleeve over the long-sleeve. As soon as he had his clothing in its proper place, he walked out of the restroom to see Steve and Miko walking down the hall, calling out for him.

"Jack?" yelled the super-soldier.

"Anyone I know?" said the teen teasingly as he came up to them.

"Where have you been man?" asked Miko dramatically, "We just saw what had to be the _coolest_ thing _ever_! There was this guy, and he took down all those goons, and then he fought the cheetah lady, then-!"

"I know, Miko," stated the boy, holding his hands up in a calming manner, "I saw the whole thing."

"But we didn't see you," said Steve, giving the boy a questioning look.

"I…tried to find a way out, but didn't until everybody started running for the doors. Once it was over, I needed a trip to the-," he said only to be cut off by Miko.

"Dude, don't need to hear it!" she exclaimed.

"Well, all that matters is that you two are safe," said Steve before pulling out his phone and dialing a number, "Director, now's a good time for your agents to move in." Neither of the teens could hear the person on the other end, but they realized that it must've been the S.H.I.E.L.D. director, Nick Fury. "Yes, that's right, they've been detained, but I think you should grab them before the cops get here. Understood Sir," hanging up his phone, Steve looked at the two youths and said, "Let's get out and call back to base. I'm pretty sure Arcee and Bulkhead are worried about you guys."

* * *

2:47 PM

The ground bridge swirled to life at the Autobot base as the two teenagers and the super soldier walked in through it.

"I thought you said that you were supposed to go alone!" demanded Arcee to Steve.

"I was, but-," he started before Miko interrupted him.

"I wanted to see Vegas, and then Jack had to try and stop me and messed it up."

"Hey, not my fault you're an adrenaline junky! I didn't even want to go in the first place!"

"Hey guys!" yelled Raf from what appeared to be a newly made living center for the humans. Complete with a couch and a wide, flat screen TV.

"What's up Raf?" asked Jack as he and Miko made their way up to where their preteen friend was.

"Check this out," he said before turning up the volume on the TV. It showed a blonde-haired woman named Cat Grant sitting behind a news desk with clips of some action taking place in the upper right-hand corner.

"_It's Sling and Slashing in Las Vegas today," _said the news lady excitedly, _"as a bystander at the Planet Hollywood hotel witnessed and recorded a fight between what appears to be a woman mixed with a cheetah, and a masked man that can shoot webbing from his wrists, stick to walls and apparently give a good punch as shown by this footage."_ Then the clip suddenly encompassed the whole screen and showed the shaky footage of Jack's fight with the feline woman, featuring all the things Cat mentioned. After a few seconds, the focus went back to Ms. Grant who said, _"Immediately after recording the event, the video became viral. People are already starting to call the woman the Cheetah, and the masked man Spider-Man. Though before anyone could question either, Spider-Man fled the scene, and the Cheetah and her associates were taken into the custody of S.H.I.E.L.D."_

'_Must be why Steve went to Vegas,'_ thought Jack as he watched the news.

"_Whether we'll hear or see either again is uncertain,"_ said the news lady, _"but what isn't is that the police have already placed warrant for the arrest of Spider-Man on the grounds of vigilantism."_

"What?!" exclaimed Jack incredulously.

"Yeah, the guy saved our lives and this is how they repay him?!" said an angry Miko.

The news cut to a clip of a police officer named Lieutenant Dan Turpin giving a comment, _"Look, all I know is that this guy took the law into his own hands when he should've just waited for the cops or one of them superheroes. Now get that camera out of my face!"_ and it showed his hand covering the lens before going back to Ms. Grant.

"Those guys were holding us at gunpoint!" argued the Japanese girl, "He didn't have time to wait!"

Then Jack put his hand on her shoulder, "Miko, don't bother. Cops have to enforce the law, all there is to it. Believe me I know, my dad was a cop."

"He was?" asked Miko and Raf in unison.

"Yeah, Inspector Benjamin Richard Darby was my dad. Nearly gave my mom a heart attack every time he came home with a bruise, broken bone, cut or worse. But he always managed to get through things no matter how tough things got."

"What happened to him?" asked the preteen boy.

Jack looked away solemnly for a moment, but before he could say anything, Steve walked up to them.

"Everything alright here?" asked the super-soldier.

Clearing his throat, the sixteen-year-old answered, "Yeah, Steve, everything's fine. We were just talking about what happened back in the casino."

Smiling, Steve said, "Since you and Miko were with me during all that, I suppose it's fair to tell you why I went there in the first place. I've cleared it with Director Fury and he says it's ok as long as you keep quiet." When he said that last part, he looked particularly at Miko, who huffed indignantly.

"Fine!" said the Japanese girl as she and Jack gathered around the World War Two veteran as he explained.

"You see, S.H.I.E.L.D. got some intel on a weapons demonstration going down in Las Vegas, so they sent me in to investigate, and if it was true, to try and stop it. As it turned out, the intel was right, and it resulted in that fight we saw at the casino."

"But the only weapons we saw were those guns they used to threaten everybody with," said the fourteen-year-old girl.

"Not all weapons are made of metal Miko," said Steve, "as this kind was a biological weapon. I didn't entirely understand it, but from what they told me, these people were attempting to recreate the serum used on me by mixing human and animal DNA."

"So that Cheetah lady…?" Jack didn't finish, he didn't need to. He remembered her words from the fight, _'…there are some people I have to impress…'_

The super soldier nodded, "We're lucky that the guy in the mask was there to help take them down. And now that Cheetah and her goons are in S.H.I.E.L.D.'s custody, we'll be able to find out who turned her into that."

"Here's hoping," agreed the sixteen-year-old.

* * *

8:39 PM

Jack sat in his room that night, holding the red mask he took in his hands as he stared at it. His thoughts ran over the events of the day. He discovered that he now had powers, sent a former Amazon princess on the path towards finding whatever family she might have in this time period, and went web-to-claw with a lady who turned out to be an attempt recreate his mom's super soldier boyfriend. All-in-all, it was one crazy day.

As he kept his gaze on the mask, his thoughts returned to the fight at the casino. The sixteen-year-old had made a difference by stopping the Cheetah and her goons, and already his 'alter ego' was famous. Many questions swam through his head, but one that persisted was, _'What should I do now?'_ After spending a few more minutes with his thoughts, the boy came to one conclusion.

"I need a suit."

* * *

**AN: That's my fifth chapter folks. Sorry it took me so long; trying to pass my finals has been killing me. Hope you all enjoyed it, though I should probably mention that since tomorrow (Dec. 15) is B-Day for me, my writing will be a bit slower.**

**Anyway, I'd like to know if any of you would be interested in becoming my Beta Reader. But I don't want just anyone to be my Beta, I want someone who fulfills these three qualities:**

**1. Someone who's written their own stories.**

**2. Someone who's fast.**

**3. Some who knows what they're doing.**

**If anyone can do that, I'd very much appreciate it.**

**As usual, read and review like crazy, and PM me with any well-thought-out suggestions or questions you might have.**


	6. Infiltration

6:57 PM

After coming into the base with Arcee when his shift was over, Jack found himself relaxing on the couch with Raf while Steve was talking with Optimus. It'd been nearly a week since his fight with the Cheetah, and still he was no closer to finding a suit than he was the day he decided that he needed one. Though some interesting things had happened during the week, one in particular was that Ratchet helped out on his, Raf's, and Miko's science projects. But they didn't do so well because the CMO made them more about Cybertron than anything even remotely related to Earth. That, and the said projects caused some damage to school property. When the medic heard that, he was less than pleased.

"Well on our planet, you would have been awarded with the highest honors!" was what he'd said before walking off agitatedly. Though the CMO had meant well, his actions caused the kids' grades to be downed. However, after some talking with their parents, teacher, and principal, the three managed to get some extra credit by helping fix the damage they caused.

Presently, the two boys were resting when they heard large footsteps coming down the hall and looked to see that it was Bulkhead talking with Miko on his shoulder.

"Alright, chores are done!" said the Japanese girl excitedly, "_Now_ can we do some dune-bashing?"

"I don't know Miko," replied the uncertain green Bot, "last time I spent a _week_ picking sand out of my articulators." He saw her disappointed expression before adding, "Uh, but there's a monster truck rally in town."

The smiled that formed on her face when he said that told everything. However, everyone's attention was taken when both Ratchet and the computer made some noise.

"Optimus," said the medic as everyone gathered around him, "I'm receiving a signal on a restricted band. It appears to be coming from a starship _inside_ this solar system." After the a small display appeared on the large monitor, Ratchet spoke with a bit of hope, "It's an Autobot identification beacon!"

"So there are other Bots out there?" asked Jack.

"The masses scattered to the galaxies when Cybertron finally went dark," explained Arcee, before voicing her suspicion, "But, Cons have been known to bait traps with false beacons."

Speaking through the comm system, the Prime was the first to make contact, "Unknown Vessel, this is Autobot Outpost Omega-1, identify yourself."

Then a cocky voice responded through the system, _"I've had warmer welcomes from Decepticon combat brigades."_

"Wheeljack?!" asked an excited Bulkhead, his movement nearly causing his charge to drop off her seat on his shoulder, "You old Con-Crusher, what're you doing all the way out here?"

"_Bulkhead? That's you?"_ asked the Bot on the other end, _"What's with all the security?"_

"The rock we're on is _crawling_ with Cons. How soon can you get here and even the odds?"

"_Sometime tomorrow, if I put metal to the pedal!"_ said Wheeljack, being as excited as Bulkhead was about the little reunion.

"Another Bot's coming here!" asked a hyper Miko, "How cool is that?!"

"Wheeljack?" pondered Optimus, "I know of him by reputation only." Looking at Bulkhead, the Prime asked, "Can you verify his voice print?"

"He is one _thousand_ percent the _real deal_, Optimus," assured the green Bot.

Turning back to the computer and the comm system, the Prime said, "We will send landing coordinates, Wheeljack. Safe journey."

"See you soon buddy!" added Bulkhead, "I'll make sure you get a proper welcome." With that, the communication line ended.

Arcee decided to tease a little, "So who's the boyfriend?"

The chuckling green Bot answered, "Me and Jackie go _way_ back. We were part of the same war unit," then he slammed his fist into his hand before adding, "the Wreckers! Which means the Cons are gonna wish he never found us."

"Yeah, well just make sure you don't jinx it big guy," said Jack as he sat back on the couch.

"Huh? Jinx?" asked the confused Wrecker.

"It's when you say how things can't go bad for ya, and then the universe sends bad luck your way almost immediately after," explained Miko. "It's like in the movies. Whenever someone says that it couldn't get any worse, the opposite _always_ happens!"

"Well, I assure you that Jackie is _not_ going to be bad luck!" defended the green Bot.

"Hey, just saying," shrugged the sixteen-year-old, "never a good idea to tempt fate."

The green Wrecker just scoffed and said, "If you _believe_ in that sort of thing." Then he and Miko walked off to another part of the base whilst talking.

Jack saw the resident super soldier and walked up to him, "Hey, Steve?"

"Yes, Jack?"

"Being Captain America, you've worked with a lot of superheroes, right?"

"A few of them, yeah. Why do you ask?" he responded, quirking his eyebrow suspiciously.

"Well, I was curious about why they dress the way they do, and wondered if maybe you might know."

"Why the sudden interest?" the WWII veteran asked, crossing his arms.

"It's just that…we've been dealing with them recently, and they're popping up all over the world. From what I've seen, they tend to wear some weird outfits, so the question's been buzzing around in my head for a little while. Since we've got you here, I thought I might ask, if that's okay?"

"It is. You see, Jack, for many of those people, the suits they wear aren't so much fashion as they are function. You've seen the getup Superman wears in the papers and news, right?"

"Yeah, he looks like he's wearing a spandex unitard or something."

"It may seem that way, but I've met him a few times, and in actuality, his suit is made of an indestructible fabric."

"Huh, that might explain why the pictures of him never show his suit being scratched up or anything."

"Right, and you ever heard of Batman?"

"That nut job from Gotham City? Who hasn't?"

"I admit that he can seem that way, but I've worked with him a couple times, and he's quite a smart cookie. Aside from his gimmick, Batman's suit is mostly comprised of body armor, and is colored black so he can blend in with the shadows."

"That actually makes a lot of sense."

"But while that is a good benefit, having too much armor can weigh you down. That's why some heroes wear spandex, so they can move faster, and even that has its downsides."

"Which are…?"

"The fact that spandex doesn't protect its wearer from knives and gunfire."

"That doesn't sound good."

"This is part of why my suit is made of both body armor and light fabric, that way I can move around easier while still being protected."

"Sounds ideal," said the teen, getting a few ideas about what to do for his suit.

"Then you have someone like Tony, who wears heavy armor, but has a reason for doing so. His powers come from that and his smarts."

"I can see that. And I could tell from when helped destroy the space bridge that he's got different ones for different occasions. I mean, why else would have a bunch of different looking armors? Or perhaps I should say 'had'?" he added, remembering that the suits were destroyed.

"I wouldn't worry about it," assured Steve, "Knowing Tony, he'll have probably built new ones by now."

Jack shrugged while nodding in agreement, and then asked, "But one thing puzzles me. Why do some of them dress in such bright colors? I mean, I get what you said about Batman dressing in black, and even you with your red, white, and blue since you're Captain America, but some others…eh?."

"Sometimes the colors are meant to symbolize something, Jack." explained the WWII veteran, "Like you said, I dress in the stars and stripes because I try to represent America and its ideals. Superman wear's blue and red because he has to show that he's not something to be feared by everyday folks despite his powers. Batman, in contrast, operates on fear so that he can have an edge in his fights."

"I see. Well, thanks Steve. See you around," said the teen boy as he walked off.

"You too Jack, and I'm happy to help," responded the super soldier, eying the son of his girlfriend and wondering if the boy was up to something.

* * *

9:18 PM

While in his bedroom, Jack was at his computer searching the web for different types of body armor and spandex. Most of the armor appeared to be expensive, ranging from seventy-five to almost four hundred dollars. The spandex, in difference, was considerably cheaper, as it varied from twelve to a little over one hundred. With his job at the K.O. Burger, he knew he wasn't going to be able to afford much without drawing someone's attention. It was hard enough to keep quiet about his powers, but the purchases he would make might cause a bit of a stir that would lead to him being exposed if he wasn't careful.

Remembering what Steve said, he knew he had to balance out the heavy with the lightweight. He needed to be fast, but he also needed protection from blades and bullets. With that in mind, the sixteen-year-old had a small, blank diagram of the human body. On each section he drew arrows to which parts needed protection the most. With those spots in mind, he looked up all the equipment needed. Some were easier to find than others.

* * *

10:16 AM

Jack was riding on Arcee as the two drove up to the base alongside the other two kids and their respective guardians. Once they passed through entrance and tunnel, the three humans and three Bots made it to the main room, where they found Ratchet talking with Optimus and Cap, fully dressed in his suit. As they got out of their respective rides, Miko, as usual, was the first to greet.

"Miss us Doc Bot?"

The medic grumbled, "Shouldn't they be in school?"

"On Saturday?" asked the Japanese girl incredulously, "We have the whole weekend off to spend with you," she teased.

The CMO muttered the barely audible, "Primus, help me…"

"So what's up Steve?" asked Jack, ignoring the medic's whining.

The Super Soldier looked over at the sixteen-year-old and smiled saying, "Last night, after you, Miko and Raf went home, S.H.I.E.L.D. found investigated an energon reading in the arctic before finding an artifact up there. The agents responsible for finding it called here and had us bridge it over in order to avoid making a big scene and so that the Bots could examine it. But Optimus wasn't entirely convinced that that was all there was to find out there, so after Wheeljack arrives, Prime and Arcee will go out and do some investigating of their own."

As if on cue, the computer beeped and everyone gathered around it to see what was happening.

"Wheeljack's ship is approaching the landing zone," said Arcee with a smirk.

Miko, being herself, was acting like a giddy fan girl as she gasped in anticipation.

Raf looked up at his two teen friends before asking, "You think he's here to visit?"

"Maybe he'll stay!" suggested the Japanese girl excitedly, before putting a finger to her chin and pondering aloud, "Hmm, have to find his own human though."

The three heard a few beeps and looked to see that Ratchet was typing in the coordinates.

"Ground bridge, cycling up," then suddenly sparks flew from the console and caused the screen above it to go dead. Then the CMO slammed his fist on the console before the screen lit back up again to reveal that the coordinates weren't lost, "Blasted Earth tech! Another bug!"

"I-I thought we got rid of those?" said Raf.

"Obviously there's still a few more," griped the medic, "but it's working now, so we'll deal with it later."

Jack turned to Optimus and asked, "So Wheeljack's going to land halfway around the world, and then you'll bridge him here?"

"We can't risk revealing the location of our base," explained the Prime, "just in case the Decepticons are tracking Wheeljack's ship."

Bulkhead was seen pacing back and forth before Miko got his attention, "Dude, I've never seen you so stoked."

"Oh you're gonna _love_ Wheeljack! We were like brothers, and tonight, we are gonna _party_!"

"Suh-_weet_!" exclaimed the fourteen-year-old.

Everyone smiled at the reaction of the two when they suddenly heard the blaring of the alarm. They looked to see the computer showing that their comrade was being pursued by six cons.

"Bogies," stated Arcee, "closing fast on Wheeljack's position!"

"Con Scum!" bellowed an angry Bulkhead.

"How soon can the ground bridge be ready?" asked Optimus to Ratchet.

"It'll take a few minutes, but I should have it up and running by then," assured the CMO.

* * *

10:36 AM

"Have you finished that yet?" groaned Bulkhead as he paced back and forth in front of the bridge tunnel.

"Almost done!" stated the medic as he did the last bits.

"That's what you said five minutes ago, and the five before that too!" argued the Wrecker.

"I would get done faster if you weren't making so much noise with your feet and mouth!" countered Ratchet, "Almost there…and done!"

"Good, now open the bridge, Ratchet, we're missing all the action!" yelled the impatient green Bot.

Pulling the lever and lighting up the vortex, the CMO turned to Bulkhead, Arcee and Bumblebee before saying, "I'll prepare sick bay."

"Who for, the Cons? This is Wheeljack we're talking about!" exclaimed the proud Wrecker as he and the other two Bots ran through the swirling energies and disappeared.

After about a couple minutes, Arcee was heard over the comm. system, "Ratchet, we're ready to bridge back, looks like we won't need sick bay after all."

The CMO sighed before pulling the lever and lighting up the bridge tunnel. Out of the resulting vortex came not only the three guardian Autobots, but another Bot who was predominantly white and had some grey on his crested head. His build was broad with what appeared to be wheels as his shoulders, along with little "wings" on his back akin to the one's Arcee and Bumblebee had. He had red and green highlights here and there with the Autobot symbol on his chest. The four humans gathered that this must be Wheeljack.

Without warning, the ground bridge console short circuited again, and Ratchet grumbled again.

Jack, on the other hand, started to feel something when he got near the white Wrecker. It was that same feeling he got during his fight with the Cheetah. The sense of ants crawling at the base of his skull-the sense that told him to move away, only more amplified when he caught closer to the new Bot.

'_That's weird…'_ thought Jack as he eyed the other Wrecker while trying to hide his suspicion. The sense he received was helpful to him before, but he wasn't going to just automatically distrust someone based on this weird feeling. So for now, he'd wait until something happened that warranted action.

Then Bulkhead got his old friend's attention and said, "Jackie, come here. Meet my other best buddy!" He gestured to the fourteen-year-old exchange student and introduced, "Miko, she can _wreck_ with the best of us!"

The girl waved at the new arrival and said, "Hiya!"

Wheeljack leaned towards her and asked jokingly, "You keeping Bulkhead out of trouble?"

"I try, but trouble finds us anyway."

"We're gonna get along just fine," said the white Bot to Bulkhead. They heard loud footsteps behind them and turned to see Optimus coming to greet the newcomer. "Optimus Prime," acknowledged the white Wrecker, "it's a privilege."

"Likewise, soldier," responded the Prime, "what have you to report from your long journey?"

"Been bouncin' from rock to rock, searchin' for signs of friend or foe. Now, I find both."

"We are few, but strong," stated Optimus, "we have suffered loss," he looked to the four humans in the room, "but we have grown," he turned back to Wheeljack as he continued, "and we would relish welcoming a new member into our fold."

"I would be honored," stated the Wrecker calmly.

The green Bot, however, was ecstatic, "Then let's get this party started!" and he slapped his old friend on the back before the two faced each other and bumped chests and yelled, "Hoo-ah!" in unison.

"Oh, joy…" muttered Ratchet, clearly not fond of the idea of two Wreckers in the base.

"But while I would offer you a tour of our base," continued the Prime, "Arcee and I must attempt to uncover the origins of an arctic find made by our human allies. Ratchet?" he asked the medic.

The CMO nodded and pulled up the image of a large, spherical object incased in ice on the monitor. The top portion of its frozen cover seemed to have melted off, and a puddle could be seen beneath the object as it sat on the ground. Then the medic clicked out of that before going back to the ground bridge console and typed in the destination and activated the swirling vortex.

He turned to Optimus and Arcee while holding out a device and saying, "Now remember, you will be out there only until your sensors sound. Once your core temperatures drop into the blue zone," he pointed the device at both of them and their insignias lit blue for a second while beeping, "system failures aren't likely, they're imminent."

"Did you say the arctic?" Raf asked the Prime, "I've always wanted to see snow."

"I would invite you to join, Rafael," informed Optimus, "but the conditions are much too extreme, even for we Autobots."

Raf tried to hide his disappointment when he said, "I…understand."

The Prime and Arcee began to walk towards the vortex before the former turned to look at the twelve-year-old.

"But, I will bring you back a snowball."

"That would be awesome!" said the excited preteen.

After that, the two Autobots walked through the swirling energies before disappearing. Then, the ground bridge powered down almost immediately after before going dark.

"Transport complete," stated Ratchet as the console without warning short-circuited, making sparks fly from it. "By Primus!" exclaimed the medic in surprise.

Walking up the steps to the living area, the four humans turned to the three other Bots in the base as they walked by.

"So, what do you guys think we should do today?" asked Miko.

Bumblebee made a series of whirs and positioned his hands as though he holding a game controller.

"Videogame tournament!" translated Raf, "Last one standing wins!" The yellow scout nodded in agreement before the CMO got their attention.

"Bulkhead, Bumblebee, Wheeljack, here now!" demanded Ratchet.

The three mechs walked towards the medic, but not before the yellow scout gave Raf an apologetic whir. Jack, Miko and Raf sat on the couch while Steve went over to where the four Bots were. The preteen was about to grab a controller when the Japanese girl picked up both and handed one to the oldest of them.

"Prepare to be destroyed!" she dared Jack.

"Eh, yeah, not really my thing, Miko." the sixteen-year-old dismissed.

"Oh? Scared of loosing? To a girl…?" she taunted.

"Heh…bring it!" said Jack as he took the controller.

"No mercy!" she declared as she started a new racing game. Before he got started on his end, however, Jack noticed the bummed expression on Raf's face.

"Hey Raf? You wanna take on Miko for me?" the sixteen-year-old offered.

The younger boy sighed, "Nah, I have stuff to do…" and he got off the couch before walking away to the other parts of the base.

The two of them watched him leave for a brief moment before Miko said, "Hoo-yeah!" and the two teens went at it in their game.

* * *

11:03 AM

"Come on, come on, you want some…" said a determined Jack as he and Miko competed in their game race. Then the boy's car smashed hers to the side and the game was Jack's, prompting the boy to get up and yell, "In! Your! Face!"

"Oh pfft…" muttered the Japanese girl as her friend started to do a victory dance. Suddenly, however, the lights flickered on and off, along with a few machines powering down and up.

"Whoa-what the…?" wondered Jack, "Great, power failure."

"Ah, it wiped out our game," taunted Miko, getting up from the couch and tossing the controller to it.

"You-but…I was winning!" countered the teen boy, following her.

"Bummer..." the teen girl countered calmly.

Walking down towards the Bots, the two teens saw Ratchet surrounded by Cap and the other three mechs as he pulled a large piece of green hardware from a panel in the floor. The piece itself looked as though something had bitten into it a few times.

Sighing, the CMO stated, "We most _definitely_ have a problem. But what could've _caused_ this?" The power failed briefly again, getting everyone's attention.

"Or that?" added Bulkhead.

"Might be the main grid," theorized the CMO, "Hopefully it isn't a substation malfunction."

"Hey guys!" shouted Raf as he came into the room, "Look what I found!"

"We're busy-AHH!" he screamed when he saw what the preteen was holding; a small metallic creature with a big head and eyes, and a small body with two arms and six spider-like legs. For a human, at first glance, the creature appeared to be cute, but obviously the Bots didn't see it that way.

"Whoa! Whoa! WHOA!" yelled Bulkhead hysterically as he, Bumblebee, Wheeljack and Ratchet backed away and pointed their blasters in Raf's direction. Jack, Miko and Cap got in front of the preteen and waved their hands in a calming motion.

"Hey, hey!" said Miko, "What's with you guys?"

"Scraplet! SCRAPLET!" Bulkhead shouted in terror.

"What's a…scraplet?" asked Raf, jumping up for a brief moment because the two teens and adult were blocking his view.

"The most dangerous _vermin_ ever to crawl upon the face of Cybertron!" answered Ratchet forebodingly.

Jack's sixth sense didn't go off when near the creature, so he was just as confused as the other humans by that statement.

"This?" he chuckled, "Are you kidding me?"

"I don't really see the danger here myself," added Cap.

"Yeah," agreed Miko, "I mean, you're giant robots! Scrappy here is…teeny," she reasoned.

This didn't deter the four Autobots, and Bulkhead quivered stating, "You have no idea the _damage _that '_teeny_' thing can do!"

Stroking the little creature's head, Raf said, "Ah he wouldn't hurt anything." The scraplet began to stir from the preteen's arms and looked long and hard at the four Bots before setting its sights on the nearest one, which happened to be Bumblebee. It then surprised the humans by showing that it had a big mouth with rows and rows of serrated teeth. After that, it jumped from the twelve-year-old's arms and began scurrying towards the yellow scout. It kept clicking its jaws together as it avoided the Bots' fire and then jumped onto Bumblebee's leg, where it proceeded to hastily chew. This caused Bumblebee to fall over in fear, making all four humans look at him with worry.

The yellow scout tried to grab and squish the little menace in his hand, but it ate its way through and started eating his arm. Bumblebee managed to knock it off, and when it recovered itself and tried to run back to the yellow Bot, Raf grabbed a nearby crowbar and proceeded to beat and bash the metallic creature over and over again. Before the preteen could land another blow, Jack grabbed his arm and Cap pulled the crowbar out of his hand.

"Whoa! Easy there, Killer!" Jack said calmingly.

"It's alright, son, it's alright," reassured Cap.

Miko put her hands on the twelve-year-old's shoulders comfortingly as he took in deep breaths. Then he gasped and ran towards his guardian to see if he was alright.

"Whoa!" said Miko to Jack and Cap, "I did _not_ see _that_ coming," she gestured to mess that used to be the scraplet.

"I'm sorry Bumblebee!" said Raf, and the yellow scout beeped in reassurance that he was fine. The preteen looked at Ratchet worriedly, "Is he gonna be ok?"

"Only a mesh wound," stated the CMO, "he'll live."

"_Now_ do you believe me?!" exasperated Bulkhead, "All scraplets do is dismantle machinery and _eat _anything metal, especially _living_ metal!"

"Well," said Jack, "bug squashed game over…right?"

"No!" declared Ratchet, "When it comes to scraplets, there's never _just_ one. And I fear I know how they got in here."

* * *

11:43 AM

The CMO shifted his hand into a welding tool and used that to light a dark hole in the nearly unfrozen object S.H.I.E.L.D. found in the arctic.

"It's a trap, a scraplet trap!" declared the medic upon finishing his examination.

"An _empty_ scraplet trap!" corrected the fearful green Wrecker.

"Most likely ejected into space ages ago," theorized Ratchet, "only to wind up in the arctic where the temperature kept them in stasis."

"Until we brought the thaw," realized Jack.

Though he didn't say anything, one could tell that Cap was having a sense of Déjà vu, as nearly the same thing had happened to him.

"Now they're wide awake and ready to brunch," added Miko.

"So…how many are we talking about?" asked Raf.

"A thousand," stated the CMO like it was the most obvious thing in the world, then he transformed his hand back to normal and said, "The power malfunctions and ground bridge damage…are sure signs that their infestation is well-underway. We'd better warn Optimus and Arcee about this!"

With that, the four humans and four Bots ran back to the main room. Ratchet typed and pulled up the comm. system on the computer and said, "Ratchet to Optimus, do you read me? We have a situation!" Then the monitor went blank, "The scraplets have gotten into the comm. link system!" he realized as he slammed his fist down in frustration. He turned to everyone else and said, "If we don't eradicate these creatures _immediately_, the will reduce the _entire base_ to a scrapheap!"

"Well I say we bug out of here and let 'em keep it!" said the fearful green Wrecker, with Bumblebee nodding and whirring in agreement. Wheeljack remained silent.

"Evacuation is _not_ an option!" commanded Ratchet, "If we don't get the ground bridge back online _stat_, Optimus and Arcee will perish."

"They…will?" worried Jack.

Miko gave her guardian a stern look before going up to him and saying, "Bulkhead? You never run!"

"Miko, you haven't seen a swarm of these things devour a Bot, I have!" explained the green Wrecker, "They pick you apart, from the _inside out_, going for the small _juicy_ bits first," he shivered, "fuse by fuse, circuit by circuit, till there's nothing left-and I mean _nothing_! Not even your optics."

"You have to let us help," reasoned Jack.

"We're not made of metal," added Raf.

"The scraplets can't hurt us!" stated Miko.

"Typically, I find your _fleshiness_ to be your _least_ engaging quality," pondered the medic, "but it would appear to provide an advantage under these extremes."

"Ok, good," said the teen boy.

"We'll pair off," stated Cap, "One Bot, one human. I'll stay here with Ratchet as he repairs the ground bridge. Miko, you and Bulkhead will check the area where Raf first found the scraplet. Raf, you and Bumblebee will search the north side, and Jack, you and Wheeljack will take the south. If anything happens that the six of you can't handle, you all head straight back here, understood?" The kids and Wheeljack nodded, while Bulkhead and Bumblebee groaned, or in the yellow scout's case, whirred, in anxiety.

Jack, for his part, felt uneasy around the Bot he got paired with, what with his new sense tingling whenever he got near him. The teenager didn't understand why the white Wrecker was registering to him as a threat, as he hadn't done anything yet. Jack wouldn't say anything, however, not until the Wrecker did something. He just had to wait.

As they walked down the south corridor, Wheeljack asked, "So, kid, where is this bunker located, exactly?"

"Didn't Bulkhead tell you?" answered Jack as he looked around.

"Nope!" replied the Wrecker.

"Really? I would've thought that since you're such good friends with him that he'd have told you."

This made Wheeljack pause for a moment before saying, "Must've slipped his processor."

"I guess so," said Jack casually.

"So you mind tellin' me?"

Choosing his words carefully, the teenager replied, "It's in the state of Nevada, though I guess that doesn't mean much to you, does it?"

"Can't say it does," said Wheeljack calmly, though with very faint hint of frustration in his voice, "So, is there any other way outta here besides bridging?"

"Why the sudden interest in leaving? You heard what Ratchet said, evacuation's not an option until we get the bridge fixed and take care of the scraplets," said Jack, becoming more suspicious. And while the sense was still going off, it was starting to get painful the more time he spent around the Wrecker.

"Just sayin', if push comes to shove, we gotta be ready for anything," Wheeljack reasoned.

"I…suppose that's true…agh!" groaned the teenager, holding his head as it began to throb.

"You okay kid?"

"I'm fine…just a headache is all…"

"Must be one pit of a headache to hurt that bad." remarked the Wrecker.

"I…guess you could say that…" the sixteen-year-old struggled, feeling like his head was about to explode.

Then, out of nowhere, scurrying was heard to their left, and the Bot and human saw the wall burst open with dozens of scraplets. The Wrecker began shooting at them like crazy while Jack pulled out a nearby pipe and swatting at them like there was no tomorrow. The painful sense going off in his head didn't help, however, as it broke his concentration a few times, and before he knew it, a one of the mechanical cretins had already eaten away at his weapon. Wheeljack found himself having trouble as well, because try as he might, the metallic vermin just kept coming his way and chewed on him as the crawled over his body.

"We'd better…get back… to the control room!" Jack struggled to yell with both the scraplets' noise and his head making it difficult.

"Got it!" agreed the Wrecker, as he swatted a few more of the little pests off and grabbing the teenager. Then they made a run for it, making a few turns in corridors before the two finally lost the swarm of scraplets. "Whew, I think we lost 'em."

Despite that, Jack still didn't feel at ease with his…spider-sense…going off like crazy. He figured that he might as well call it that since this whole mess started with him being bit by a spider, and with what the media was calling him; Spider-Man. Anyway, regardless of the fact that the Wrecker just saved him, the Bot was still being registered as a threat to the teenager's senses. The question of why kept ringing about in his head, and he hoped that the answer would reveal itself soon.

"Well, we best get back, cause I'm leakin'," said Wheeljack as he put the sixteen-year-old down and put a hand on his side as a bright blue liquid seemed to pour out of it.

* * *

11:56 AM

Jack and the Wrecker made their way back to the control room, meeting up with the other two kids and their guardians as well. As the six of them walked out of the hallway, Bulkhead was the first to speak.

"Ratchet, get the patch kit! We're leaking energon like-whoa!" yelled the green Wrecker as he and the others saw the large swarm of scraplets buzzing around in the air above them. Not only were they coming through the tunnels, but also the air vents.

"They fly?!" asked Jack incredulously, "You never said they could fly!"

On the floor, Cap was using a fire extinguisher while Ratchet was trying to recover from an attack, and he had the marks to prove it all over his body. The other Bots were busy shooting and swatting at the flying vermin while unsuccessfully attempting to avoid getting eaten. Bulkhead actually gave off a girlish scream, which would've been quite humorous had the circumstances been different.

"Jack!" shouted Cap to the teenager, "Take this," and he tossed the boy the fire extinguisher, "use it on the scraplets, I'll go find another!" and he ran to do just that.

The sixteen-year-old nodded and began firing the coolant within the extinguisher at each and every scraplet he came close to. Miko and Raf grabbed hold of a couple crowbars and swung them in the air at the vermin. After about a minute, the super soldier came back with another extinguisher and joined his girlfriend's son in cooling the creatures into submission. A few more minutes passed by and all the scraplets in the room were chilled into stasis while the four Bots were groaning on the floor and trying to recover.

"I don't mean to tempt fate here, but did we get 'em all?" asked Jack. Then, as if on cue, a mechanical scurrying sound from the vents and hallways to make itself known.

"Hardly," answered the tired Ratchet, "these were just scouts."

Bumblebee whirred wearily as he collapsed his head on the ground.

"So the…rest of them know we're in here?" Bulkhead asked nervously.

"And we allow ourselves to become their next meal," added the CMO, "Optimus and Arcee will _never_ make it home. We _must_ get the ground bridge operational!"

"Then we can use it to send the scraplets anywhere on Earth," realized Raf.

"Why not back to the arctic?" suggested Jack and he gestured to the extinguisher in his hand, "We already know they don't do cold."

"Suh-weet!" exclaimed Miko, "One-stop shopping!"

"Given the body mass of the scraplets," thought Ratchet aloud, "the subzero temperature should freeze them on contact. So think, Ratchet-_think_! If the ground bridge is still down," he scratched the back of his head before realizing, "there must be a breach in the energon fuel line!"

Bumblebee whirred before collapsing again.

"Ugh, if _we_ weren't breaching," said Bulkhead, "one of us could get back over there and fix it."

"Where do we find it?" asked the determined Jack.

"And how do we fix it?" pitched in Raf.

"You'll find it along the east corridor," said the tired medic, "but you'll need some welding tools."

"And you'll need some incentive," said Wheeljack, getting up and walking towards them.

"What do you meen?" asked Cap, and no sooner did he say that than the Wrecker grabbed a hold of Miko and made a dash for the ground bridge console. He then held the Japanese girl out in his fist threateningly.

"Stay back!" he demanded in a different and menacing voice, "Or I'll squeeze her into pulp!"

"Wheeljack! What're you doing?" said the fourteen-year-old as she struggled to get free.

'_I knew there was something off about him!'_ Jack mentally cursed, wishing he had acted on his spider-sense earlier.

"Actually, the name's Makeshift!" 'Wheeljack' clarified.

"Decepticon…coward!" accused Bulkhead, trying and failing to get up, "Let the girl go…and face me!"

"You're hardly in a position to fight, Autobot! But don't fret, there's plenty of fighting to come!" countered the false Bot.

"Is there a _real_ Wheeljack?" questioned Jack.

"Oh indeed," answered the faker, "and I expect Lord Starscream is making sport of him," he added ominously. This earned him a hardened glare from Bulkhead, "Now unless you want one of your precious humans to die, I suggest your pets go and fix the fuel line now!"

With that, the super soldier and two boys ran to the east hallway, praying that things would be alright…

* * *

**A/N: CLIFFHANGER ALERT! Given the fact that I'm combining two episodes, you know it's warranted to split the chapter. Hope you all enjoyed it and I can't wait to work on the next one.**

**On the subject of my beta reader, I've gotten two possibilities, but I'm waiting to hear from them on a couple of things.**

**Also, if you have any suggestions on Jack's costume or future events, I'm more than happen to hear them in a PM. Please critique the chapter in a review, and have a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a Happy New Year everybody!**


End file.
